GROUP F.

§ 67. THE SQUIRE'S PROLOGUE. Ten Brink assumes that Groups E and F

constitute but _one_ Group; for which there is no certain evidence. Many

MSS., including Pt., make the Wife's Tale follow the Marchantes Tale; and

there is nothing in the text itself to shew that the Epilogue to the

Marchantes Tale is inseparably connected with the Squire's Prologue.

Nevertheless, many good MSS., including E., write that Epilogue and the

Squire's Prologue _continuously_, and E. prefixes to the Epilogue a

rubric--'The Prologe of the Squieres Tale'; see vol. iv. p. 460, footnote.

The easiest way out of the difficulty is to adopt the arrangement in the

Six-text edition, which separates Group E from Group F as to the numbering

of the lines, but makes F follow E immediately.

The black-letter editions omit E 2419-2440 and F 1-8 altogether; so that

Tyrwhitt was the first to print these lines. He says: 'The Prologue to the

Squieres Tale [by which he means E 2419-40 and F 1-8] appears now for the

first time in print. Why it has been omitted by all former editors I cannot

guess, except, perhaps, because it did not suit with the place which, for

reasons best known to themselves, they were determined to assign to the

Squieres Tale, that is, after the Man of Lawes and before the

Marchantes[142]. I have chosen rather to follow the MSS. of the best

authority in placing the Squieres Tale after the Marchantes, and in

connecting them together by this Prologue, agreeably, as I am persuaded, to

Chaucer's intention. The lines which have been usually printed by way of

Prologue to the Squieres Tale, as I believe them to have been really

composed by Chaucer, though not intended for the Squieres Prologue, I have

prefixed to the Shipmannes Tale, for reasons which I shall give when I come

to speak of that Tale[143].'

In F 1, MSS. Hn. and Pt., and others, substitute _Sire Frankeleyn_ for

_Squyer_. This is obviously wrong, because it increases the number of

syllables in the line from ten syllables to twelve, and the number of

accents from five to six. Cf. § 69.

§ 68. THE SQUIERES TALE. As to this Tale, Tyrwhitt remarks: 'I have never

been able to discover the probable original of this Tale, and yet I should

be very hardly brought to believe that the whole, or even any considerable

part of it, was of Chaucer's invention.'

The general tone of it points to an Eastern, and especially to an Arabian

origin. In this connection, it is worth remarking that there is at least

one other case in which Chaucer is conected with an Arabian writer. I have

shewn, in the Introduction to the Treatise on the Astrolabe, that a large

part of it is immediately derived from a Latin version of a treatise

written by Messahala, an Arabian astronomer, by religion a Jew, who

flourished towards the end of the eighth century. So also in the case of

The Squieres Tale, we may suspect that it was through some Latin medium

that Chaucer made acquaintance with Arabian fiction. But I am fortunate in

having found a more direct clue to some part, at least, of the poem. I

shall shew presently that one of his sources was the Travels of Marco

Polo[144].

Warton, in his History of English Poetry, took much pains to gather

together some information on the subject, and his remarks are therefore

quoted here, nearly at length, for the reader's convenience. I omit most of

his references.

'The Canterbury Tales,' says Warton, 'are unequal, and of various merit.

Few perhaps, if any, of the stories are the invention of Chaucer. I have

already spoken at large of the Knight's Tale, one of our author's noblest

compositions. That of the Canterbury Tales which deserves the next place,

as written in the higher strain of poetry, and the poem by which Milton

describes and characterises Chaucer, is the Squire's Tale. The imagination

of this story consists in Arabian fiction engrafted on Gothic chivalry. Nor

is this Arabian fiction purely the sport of arbitrary fancy: it is in great

measure founded on Arabian learning. Cambuscan, a King of Tartary,

celebrates his birthday festival in the hall of his palace at Sarra with

the most royal magnificence. In the midst of the solemnity, the guests are

alarmed by a miraculous and unexpected spectacle: the minstrels cease on a

sudden, and all the assembly is hushed in silence, surprise, and suspense;

see ll. 77-88.

'These presents were sent by the King of Arabia and India to Cambuscan, in

honour of his feast. The Horse of Brass, on the skilful movement and

management of certain secret springs, transported his rider into the most

distant region of the world in the space of twenty-four hours; for, as the

rider chose, he could fly in the air with the swiftness of an eagle: and

again, as occasion required, he could stand motionless in opposition to the

strongest force, vanish on a sudden at command, and return at his master's

call. The Mirror of Glass was endued with the power of shewing any future

disasters which might happen to Cambuscan's kingdom, and discovered the

most hidden machinations of treason. The Naked Sword could pierce armour

deemed impenetrable, "were it as thikke as is a branched ook" (l. 159); and

he who was wounded with it could never be healed, unless its possessor

could be entreated to stroke the wound with its edge. The Ring was intended

for Canace, Cambuscan's daughter, and while she bore it in her purse, or

wore it on her thumb, enabled her to understand the language of every

species of birds, and the virtues of every plant.

'I have mentioned, in another place, the favourite philosophical studies of

the Arabians. In this poem the nature of those studies is displayed, and

their operations exemplified: and this consideration, added to the

circumstances of Tartary being the scene of action, and Arabia the country

from which these extraordinary presents are brought, induces me to believe

this story to be identical with one which was current at a very ancient

date among the Arabians[145]. At least it is formed on their principles.

Their sciences were tinctured with the warmth of their imaginations, and

consisted in wonderful discoveries and mysterious inventions.

'This idea of a Horse of Brass took its rise from their chemical knowledge

and experiments in metals. The treatise of Jeber, a famous Arab chemist of

the middle ages, called Lapis Philosophorum, contains many curious and

useful processes concerning the nature of metals, their fusion,

purification, and malleability, which still maintain a place in modern

systems of that science. The poets of romance, who deal in Arabian ideas,

describe the Trojan horse as made of brass. These sages pretended the power

of giving life or speech to some of their compositions in metal. Bishop

Grosseteste's speaking brazen head, sometimes attributed to Roger Bacon,

has its foundation in Arabian philosophy. In the romance of Valentine and

Orson, a brazen head fabricated by a necromancer in a magnificent chamber

of the castle of Clerimond, declares to those two princes their royal

parentage. We are told by William of Malmesbury that Pope Sylvester II, a

profound mathematician who lived in the eleventh century, made a brazen

head, which would speak when spoken to, and oracularly resolved many

difficult questions. Albertus Magnus, who was also a profound adept in

those sciences which were taught by the Arabian schools, is said to have

framed a man of brass, which not only answered questions readily and truly,

but was so loquacious, that Thomas Aquinas, while a pupil of Albertus

Magnus, and afterwards an Angelic doctor, knocked it in pieces as the

disturber of his abstruse speculations. This was about the year 1240. Much

in the same manner, the notion of our knight's horse being moved by means

of a concealed engine corresponds with their pretences of producing

preternatural effects, and their love of surprising by geometrical powers.

Exactly in this notion, Rocail, a giant in some of the Arabian romances, is

said to have built a palace, together with his own sepulchre, of most

magnificent architecture and with singular artifice: in both of these he

placed a great number of gigantic statues or images, figured of different

metals by talismanic skill, which in consequence of some occult machinery,

performed actions of real life, and looked like living men. We must add

that astronomy, which the Arabian philosophers studied with a singular

enthusiasm, had no small share in the composition of this miraculous steed.

For, says the poet,

"He that it wroughte coude ful many a gin;

He wayted many a constellacioun,

Er he had doon this operacioun." (ll. 128-130.)

'Thus the buckler of the Arabian giant Ben Gian, as famous among the

Orientals as that of Achilles among the Greeks, was fabricated by the

powers of astronomy; and Pope Sylvester's brazen head, just mentioned, was

prepared under the influence of certain constellations.

'Natural magic, improperly so called, was likewise a favourite pursuit of

the Arabians, by which they imposed false appearances on the spectator....

Chaucer, in the fiction before us, supposes that some of the guests in

Cambuscan's hall believed the Trojan horse to be a temporary illusion,

effected by the power of magic (l. 218)....

'Optics were likewise a branch of study which suited the natural genius of

the Arabian philosophers, and which they pursued with incredible delight.

This science was a part of the Aristotelic philosophy which, as I have

before observed, they refined and filled with a thousand extravagances.

Hence our strange knight's Mirror of Glass, prepared on the most profound

principles of art, and endued with preternatural qualities (ll. 225-234,

132-141).

'Alcen, or Alhazen, mentioned in l. 232, an Arabic philosopher, wrote seven

books of perspective, and flourished about the eleventh century. Vitellio,

formed on the same school, was likewise an eminent mathematician of the

middle ages, and wrote ten books on Perspective. The Roman Mirror here

mentioned by Chaucer, as similar to this of the strange knight, is thus

described by Gower:--

"Whan Rome stood in noble plite,

Virgile, which was tho parfite,

A mirrour made of his clergye [_by his skill_],

And sette it in the townes ye [_eye_, _sight_]

Of marbre on a piller withoute,

That they, by thritty mile aboute,

By day and eek also by nighte

In that mirrour beholde mighte

Her ennemies, if any were";

Conf. Amant. bk. v. (ii. 195).

'The Oriental writers relate that Giamschid, one of their kings, the

Solomon of the Persians and their Alexander the Great, possessed among his

inestimable treasures cups, globes, and mirrors, of metal, glass, and

crystal, by means of which he and his people knew all natural as well as

supernatural things. The title of an Arabian book translated from the

Persian is--The Mirror which reflects the World. There is this passage in

an ancient Turkish poet: "When I am purified by the light of heaven, my

soul will become the mirror of the world, in which I shall discern all

abstruse secrets." Monsieur Herbelot is of opinion that the Orientals took

these notions from the patriarch Joseph's cup of divination and Nestor's

cup in Homer, on which all nature was symbolically represented. Our great

countryman Roger Bacon, in his Opus Majus, a work entirely formed on the

Aristotelic and Arabian philosophy, describes a variety of _Specula_, and

explains their construction and uses. This is the most curious and

extraordinary part of Bacon's book, which was written about the year 1270.

Bacon's optic tube, with which he pretended to see future events, was

famous in his age, and long afterwards, and chiefly contributed to give him

the name of a magician. This art, with others of the experimental kind, the

philosophers of those times were fond of adapting to the purposes of

thaumaturgy; and there is much occult and chimerical speculation in the

discoveries which Bacon affects to have made from optical experiments. He

asserts (and I am obliged to cite the passage in his own mysterious

expressions) "omnia sciri per Perspectivam, quoniam omnes actiones rerum

fiunt secundum specierum et virtutum multiplicationem ab agentibus hujus

mundi in materias patientes," &c.[146] Spenser feigns that the magician

Merlin made a glassy globe, and presented it to King Ryence, which showed

the approach of enemies, and discovered treasons (F. Q. iii. 2. 21). This

fiction, which exactly corresponds with Chaucer's Mirror, Spenser borrowed

from some romance, perhaps of King Arthur, fraught with Oriental fancy.

From the same sources came a like fiction of Camoens in the Lusiad (canto

x), where a globe is shown to Vasco de Gama, representing the universal

fabric or system of the world, in which he sees future kingdoms and future

events. The Spanish historians report an American tradition, but more

probably invented by themselves, and built on the Saracen fables in which

they were so conversant. They pretended that some years before the

Spaniards entered Mexico, the inhabitants caught a monstrous fowl, of

unusual magnitude and shape, on the lake of Mexico. In the crown of the

head of this wonderful bird there was a mirror or plate of glass, in which

the Mexicans saw their future invaders the Spaniards, and all the disasters

which afterwards happened to their kingdom. These superstitions remained,

even in the doctrines of philosophers, long after the darker ages.

Cornelius Agrippa, a learned physician of Cologne about the year 1520, and

author of a famous book on the Vanity of the Sciences, mentions a species

of mirror which exhibited the form of persons absent, at command. In one of

these he is said to have shown to the poetical Earl of Surrey the image of

his mistress, the beautiful Geraldine, sick and reposing on a couch. Nearly

allied to this was the infatuation of seeing things in a beryl, which was

very popular in the reign of James I, and is alluded to by Shakespeare....

'The Naked Sword, another of the gifts presented by the strange knight to

Cambuscan, endued with medical virtues, and so hard as to pierce the most

solid armour, is likewise an Arabian idea. It was suggested by their skill

in medicine, by which they affected to communicate healing qualities to

various substances, and by their knowledge of tempering iron and hardening

all kinds of metal. It is the classical spear of Peleus, perhaps originally

fabricated in the same regions of fancy; see ll. 236-246.

'The sword which Berni, in the Orlando Innamorato, gives to the hero

Ruggiero, is tempered by much the same sort of magic:--

"Il brando con tal arte fabbricato,

Che taglia incanto, ed ogni fatagione[147]";

Orl. Innamor. ii. 17, st. 5.

So also his continuator Ariosto:--

"Non vale incanto, ov'ella mette il taglio[148]";

Orl. Fur. xli. 83.

And the notion that this weapon could resist all incantations is like the

fiction above mentioned of the buckler of the Arabian giant Ben Gian, which

baffled the force of charms and enchantments made by giants or demons.

Spenser has a sword endued with the same efficacy, the metal of which the

magician Merlin mixed with the juice of meadow-wort, that it might be proof

against enchantment; and afterwards, having forged the blade in the flames

of Etna, he gave it hidden virtue by dipping it seven times in the bitter

waters of Styx; F. Q. ii. 8. 20. From the same origin is also the golden

lance of Berni, which Galafron, King of Cathaia, father of the beautiful

Angelica and the invincible champion Argalia, procured for his son by the

help of a magician. This lance was of such irresistible power, that it

unhorsed a knight the instant he was touched with its point; Orl. Innamor.

i. 1. 43. Britomart in Spenser is armed with the same enchanted spear,

which was made by Bladud, an ancient British king skilled in magic; F. Q.

iii. 3. 60; iv. 6. 6; iii. 1. 10.

'The Ring, a gift to the king's daughter Canace, which taught the language

of birds, is also quite in the style of some others of the occult sciences

of these inventive philosophers; and it is the fashion of the Oriental

fabulists to give language to brutes in general. But to understand the

language of birds was peculiarly one of the boasted sciences of the

Arabians, who pretend that many of their countrymen have been skilled in

the knowledge of the language of birds ever since the time of King Solomon.

Their writers relate that Balkis, the Queen of Sheba or Saba, had a bird

called _Hudhud_, that is, a lapwing, which she dispatched to King Solomon

on various occasions, and that this trusty bird was the messenger of their

amours. We are told that Solomon having been secretly informed by this

winged confidant that Balkis intended to honour him with a grand embassy,

enclosed a spacious square with a wall of gold and silver bricks, in which

he ranged his numerous troops and attendants in order to receive the

ambassadors, who were astonished at the suddenness of these splendid and

unexpected preparations. Herbelot tells a curious story of an Arab feeding

his camels in a solitary wilderness, who was accosted for a draught of

water by Alhejaj, a famous Arabian commander, who had been separated from

his retinue in hunting. While they were talking together, a bird flew over

their heads, making at the same time an unusual sort of noise, which the

camel-feeder hearing, looked steadfastly on Alhejaj, and demanded who he

was. Alhejaj, not choosing to return him a direct answer, desired to know

the meaning of that question. "Because," replied the camel-feeder, "this

bird assures me that a company of people is coming this way, and that you

are the chief of them." While he was speaking, Alhejaj's attendants

arrived.

'This wonderful Ring also imparted to the wearer a knowledge of the

qualities of plants, which formed an important part of the Arabian

philosophy; see ll. 146-155.

'Every reader of taste and imagination must regret that, instead of our

author's tedious detail of the quaint effects of Canace's ring, in which a

falcon relates her amours, and talks familiarly of Troilus, Paris, and

Jason, the notable achievements we may suppose to have been performed by

the assistance of the horse of brass are either lost, or that this part of

the story, by far the most interesting, was never written. After the

strange knight has explained to Cambuscan the management of this magical

courser, he vanishes on a sudden, and we hear no more of him; ll. 302-343.

'By such inventions we are willing to be deceived. These are triumphs of

deception over truth:--

"Magnanima mensogna, hor quando è il vero

Si bello, che si possa à te preporre?[149]"'

This learned and curious discourse is well worth perusal; but the reader

will probably be led to remark, that Warton does not after all tell us

whence Chaucer drew his materials, but only proves that he drew them from

some Arabian source. That source may be indicated a little more distinctly;

for, as will be shewn more fully below, nearly all the magical particulars

are to be found in the collection now known as the Arabian Nights'

Entertainments. For the rest, we may trace most of the descriptions to the

travels of Marco Polo, with which Chaucer must have been acquainted to some

extent, either immediately or through some channel not easily now pointed

out. This suggestion occurred to me on reading a note by Colonel Yule on

the name of Cambuscan; but in this I have been long anticipated by Mr.

Keightley, as noted above (p. 463, note 2). The passage in Colonel Yule's

edition of Marco Polo to which I refer, is as follows:--

'Before parting with Chingis [or Gengis Khan] let me point out what has not

to my knowledge been suggested before, that the name of "_Cambuscan_ bold"

in Chaucer's tale is only a corruption of the name of Chinghiz. The name of

the conqueror appears in Friar Ricold as _Camiuscan_, from which the

transition to Cambuscan presents no difficulty[150]. _Camius_ was, I

suppose, a clerical corruption out of _Canjus_ or _Cianjus_.'--Marco Polo,

ed. Yule, i. 218.

On applying to Professor Palmer for information as to the _meaning_ of the

name, he kindly pointed out to me that, in the Dictionnaire Turk-Oriental

by M. Pavet de Courteille (Paris, 1870), p. 289, the word _djenguiz_ (as M.

de Courteille spells it) is explained to mean simply _great_. Thus Chinghiz

Khan is no more than _Great Khan_; and Cambinskan merely represents the

same title of Great Khan, which appears so repeatedly in Marco Polo's

travels. The succession of supreme or Great Khans was as follows:--(1)

Chinghiz; (2) Okkadai; (3) Kuyuk; (4) Mangku; (5) Kublai, &c. The first of

these is always known by the simple _title_, though his real name was

Temugin; the second was his son; and the third, fourth, and fifth were all

his grandsons. The descriptions in Marco Polo refer to Kublai Khan, who

died in 1294. Marco describes his person with some minuteness:--

'The personal appearance of the Great Kaan, Lord of Lords, whose name is

Cublay, is such as I shall now tell you. He is of a good stature, neither

tall nor short, but of a middle height. He has a becoming amount of flesh,

and is very shapely in all his limbs. His complexion is white and red, the

eyes black and fine, the nose well formed and well set on': ed. Yule, i.

318. A portrait of him, from a Chinese engraving, is given by Colonel Yule

on the next page. Kublai was succeeded by his grandson Teimur, to the

exclusion of his elder brothers _Kambala_ (who squinted) and Tarmah (who

was of a weak constitution). Here we might perhaps think to see the

original of Chaucer's _Camballo_, but I suspect the real interpretation to

be very different. It is far more probable that the name _Camballo_ was

caught, not from this obscure Kambala, but from the famous word _Cambaluc_,

really the name (not of a person, but) of the celebrated capital which

Kublai built and where he resided; so that the name may easily have

suggested itself from this connexion[151]. For example, in the splendid

Bodleian MS. No. 264, generally known as the 'Alexander MS.,' there is a

copy of Marco Polo's Travels, with the colophon--_Explicit le Livre nommé

du Grant Caan de la Graunt Cité de Cambaluc; Dieux ayde; Amen._ In fact,

Cambaluc is but the old name of the city which is still the capital of

China, but better known as _Pekin_; the etymology of the word being merely

_Kaan-baligh_, i.e. the city of the Khan. All this may seem a little

uncertain at first sight; but if the reader can turn to the second book of

Marco Polo, he will soon see clearly enough that Chaucer's Cambinskan

(though the name itself is formed from Chinghiz Khan) is practically

identical with Marco's Kublai Khan, and that it is to Marco's description

of him and his court that Chaucer is ultimately indebted for some of his

details. This will be best illustrated by examples of correspondences.

'Of a surety he [Kublai Khan] hath good right to such a title [that of

_Kaan_ or Emperor], for all men know for a certain truth that he is the

most potent man, as regards forces and lands and treasure, that existeth in

the world, or ever hath existed from the time of our first father Adam

until this day'; Marco Polo, ed. Yule, i. 295. Cf. Sq. Ta. 14.

'The empire fell to him because of his ability and valour and great worth,

as was right and reason'; id. i. 296. Cf. Sq. Ta. 16.

'He had often been to the wars, and had shown himself a gallant soldier and

an excellent captain'; id. i. 296. Cf. Sq. Ta. 23.

In Book ii. ch. 4, is an account of his taking the field in person, and

acting with astonishing vigour and rapidity, even at the age of

seventy-three.

In Book ii. ch. 5, it is related that the enemy whom he then subdued had

Christians in his army, some of whom bore standards on which the Cross was

displayed. After the battle, the Christians were bitterly taunted with

this, and were told that their Cross had not helped them. But Kublai

reproved the scoffers, saying that the Cross had done its part well in not

assisting the rebels. 'The Cross of your God did well in that it gave him

[the rebel chief] no help against the right.' Cf. Sq. Ta. 16-21.

His rewards to his captains are described fully in chap. 7. He gave them

silver plate, ornaments, 'fine jewels of gold and silver, and pearls and

precious stones; insomuch that the amount that fell to each of them was

something astonishing.' Cf. Sq. Ta. 26.

His palace, 'the greatest palace that ever was,' is described in chap. 10.

It was situate 'in the capital city of Cathay, which is called _Cambaluc_.'

The _hall_ of the palace 'could easily dine 6000 people.' The _parks_

within its enclosure were full of fine trees and 'beasts of sundry kinds,

such as white stags and fallow deer, gazelles and roebucks,' &c. Cf. Sq.

Ta. 60-62, 392.

'And when the great Kaan sits at table on any great court occasion, it is

in this fashion. His table is elevated a good deal above the others, and he

sits at the north end of the hall, looking towards the south, with his

chief wife beside him on the left,' &c.; i. 338. Near the table is a golden

butt, at each corner of which is one of smaller size holding a firkin, 'and

from the former the wine or beverage flavoured with fine and costly spices

is drawn off into the latter'; i. 339. 'And when the Emperor is going to

drink, all the musical instruments, of which he has vast store of every

kind, begin to play'; i. 340. 'I will say nought about the dishes, as you

may easily conceive that there is a great plenty of every possible kind.

And when all have dined and the tables have been removed, then come in a

great number of players and jugglers, adepts at all sorts of wonderful

feats,' &c.; i. 340. Cf. Sq. Ta. 59-68, 77-79, 266-271, 218, 219.

'You must know that the Tartars keep high festival yearly on their

birthdays.... Now on his birthday, the Great Kaan dresses in the best of

his robes, all wrought with beaten gold'; i. 343. 'On his birthday also,

all the Tartars in the world, and all the countries and governments that

owe allegiance to the Kaan, offer him great presents according to their

several ability, and according as prescription or orders have fixed the

amount'; i. 344. Cf. Sq. Ta. 44-47, 110-114.

The Kaan also holds a feast called the 'White Feast' on New-year's day,

i.e. at the vernal equinox. 'On that day, I can assure you, among the

customary presents there shall be offered to the Kaan from various quarters

more than 100,000 white horses, beautiful animals and richly caparisoned';

i. 346.

When he goes on a hunting expedition, 'he takes with him fully 10,000

falconers, and some 500 gerfalcons besides _peregrines_, sakers, and other

hawks in great number'; i. 358. He also has another 'grand park' at

Chandu[152], 'where he keeps his gerfalcons in mew'; i. 365. At p. 260 he

is described again as 'very fond of hawking.' At p. 237 the peregrine

falcons are described particularly. At p. 220 we are told that the Tartars

'eat all kinds of flesh, including that of horses and dogs, and Pharaoh's

rats.' Cf. Sq. Ta. 424-429, 69-71.

In the great city of Kinsay 'there is an eminence on which stands a tower.'

This was used as an alarm-tower in case of fire; see vol. ii. p. 148. This

may serve to illustrate Chaucer's 'maister tour.' Still more curious is the

account of the city of Mien, with its two towers covered with plates of

gold and silver, which 'form one of the finest sights in the world'; ii.

73. These towers were, however, part of a mausoleum. Cf. Sq. Ta. 176, 226.

The following note about the Tartar invasion of Russia is also worthy of

attention:--

'Rosia [_Russia_] is a very great province, lying towards the north....

There are many strong defiles and passes in the country; and they pay

tribute to nobody except to a certain Tartar king of the Ponent [i.e.

_West_], whose name is Toctai; to him indeed they pay tribute, but only a

trifle.'--Marco Polo, ed. Yule, ii. 417. On this passage Col. Yule has the

note: 'Russia was overrun with fire and sword as far as Tver and Torshok by

Batu Khan (123-38), some years before his invasion of Poland and Silesia.

Tartar tax-gatherers were established in the Russian cities as far as

Rostov and Jaroslawl, and for many years Russian princes as far as Novgorod

paid homage to the Mongol Khans in their court at _Sarai_[153]. Their

subjection to the Khans was not such a trifle as Polo seems to imply; and

at least a dozen princes met their death at the hands of the Mongol

executioner.'

Some of the Mongolian Tartars, known as the 'Golden Horde,' conquered a

part of S. E. Russia in 1223; in 1242 they established the Empire of the

Khan of Kaptschak (S. E. Russia), and exercised great influence there. In

1380 was another Tartar war; and in 1383 Moscow was burnt. The Tartar power

in Russia was crushed by the general of Ivan III in 1481. See Haydn's

Dictionary of Dates, under _Golden Horde_ and _Russia_.

The whole subject of magic is so vast that it is not easy to deal with it

within a reasonable space. I must therefore content myself with pointing

out a few references, &c., that seem most worthy of being here noted.

_The Magic Horse_ appears in the tale of Cleomades and Claremond; see

Keightley's Tales and Popular Fictions. Cervantes has put him to memorable

use in his Don Quixote, where he describes him as 'aquel mismo caballo de

madera sobre quien llevo el valeroso Pierres robada á la linda

Magalona'--'that very wooden horse upon which the valiant Peter of Provence

carried off the fair Magalona[154]. This horse is governed by a pin he has

in his forehead, which serves for a bridle,' &c.; see Jarvis's translation,

vol. ii. chap, xl., ed. 1809. But the best story of the Enchanted Horse is

in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, where he is said to have been

presented by an Indian to the king of Persia on the New Day, i.e. on the

first day of the solar year, at the vernal equinox. This horse is governed

by a peg in his neck, which was turned round when it was necessary for him

to fly: see the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, published by Nimmo, 1865,

p. 483; or the excellent edition by Lane, vol. ii. p. 463, which varies

considerably from the more popular editions.

The tale of Cleomades is alluded to, says Mr. Keightley, in Caxton's

edition of Reynard the Foxe, printed in 1481, in the 32nd chapter[155]. He

also cites a note by Sir F. Madden that a copy of the poem of Cleomades was

purchased by Sir Thomas Phillipps at Mr. Lang's sale in 1828; that an

undated edition of the Histoire Plaisante et Récréative du noble et

excellent chevalier Clamades et de la belle Clermonde was printed at

Troyes; and that Les Aventures de Clamades et Clarmonde appeared in Paris

in 1733. Mr. Lane agrees with Mr. Keightley in considering the Tale of

Cleomades identical with that of the Enchanted Horse in the Arabian Nights'

Entertainments, and in supposing that it was originally a Persian story.

Mr. Lane thinks it is derived from the 'Hezár Afsaneh'; see his edition,

ii. 491.

It is not out of place to observe that the town of Seville is frequently

mentioned in Cleomades, and we have seen that Cervantes had heard of the

story. Perhaps, then, we may suppose that the story, originally Persian,

found its way into Arabic, and thence into Spain; it would then soon be

written down in Latin, and thence be translated into French, and become

generally known. This must have happened, too, at an early period; for the

French romance of Cleomades, extending to some 19,000 octosyllabic lines,

was written by a poet named Adenet surnamed le Roi, a native of Brabant,

between the years 1275 and 1283; see Keightley's Tales, p. 40.

_The Magic Mirror_ is a common fiction, and we may connect it with the

magic ivory tube, furnished with glass, which enabled the user of it to see

whatever object he might wish to behold. This fancy occurs in the tale of

the Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Pari Banou, as told in the Arabian Nights'

Entertainments (Nimmo, 1865), p. 501. It is hardly worth while to pursue

the subject further, as Warton's comments have already been cited, and Mr.

Clouston's essay (mentioned below) can be consulted.

_The Magic Ring_ is to be referred to the story of the seal-ring made

partly of brass and partly of iron, by which Solomon obtained power over

the evil Jinn; see Lane's Arabian Nights, i. 31[156]. The ineffable name of

Allah was engraved upon it, and gave it its virtue. The notion of its

conferring upon the wearer the power of understanding the language of birds

is connected with it, because this was one of the faculties which Solomon

possessed; for we read in the Koran, as translated by Sale, that 'Solomon

was David's heir; and he said, "O men, we have been taught the speech of

birds";' ch. xxvii. A clever Arabic epigram of the thirteenth century,

ascribing to King Solomon a knowledge of the language of birds and beasts,

is cited in Professor Palmer's History of the Jewish Nation, at p. 93. Even

Hudibras understood the language of birds; Hudib. pt. 1. c. 1. l. 547. See

further, as to this subject, in the remarks below, upon the Manciples Tale

(Group H); § 75.

With regard to _the Falcon_, Leigh Hunt has well observed, in his Essay on

Wit and Humour, that this bird is evidently 'a human being, in a temporary

state of metempsychosis, a circumstance very common in tales of the East.'

This is probably true, as otherwise the circumstances of the story become

poor and meaningless; it is something more than a mere fable like that of

the Cock and Fox. If the story had been completed, shewing how the Falcon

'gat her love again,' we should have seen how she was restored to her first

shape, by means, as Chaucer hints, of the magic ring. A talking bird

appears in the Story of the Sisters who envied their Younger Sister, the

last in some editions of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, but it is not

transformed. On the other hand, in the story of Beder, Prince of Persia, in

the same collection--which, by the way, mentions a magic ring--we find

Prince Beder transformed into a white bird, and recovering his shape on

being sprinkled with magic water; but he does not speak while so

metamorphosed. The story of a boy who understands the language of birds

occurs in the Seven Sages, ed. Wright, p. 106; and Mr. Wright shews, in his

Introduction, that such oriental tales are of great antiquity, and known in

Europe in the thirteenth century. He refers us to an Essai sur les Fables

Indiennes, et sur leur Introduction en Europe, by M. Deslongchamps,

published in 1838. Cf. Weber, Met. Rom. iii. 137.

The reader should not forget the hint in the Notes to the Minor Poems (vol.

i. p. 534), that some expressions in the Squieres Tale are taken from the

poem of Queen Anelida.

With respect to the ending of the Squieres Tale, two attempts at least have

been made to complete it. Spenser, in his Faerie Queene (bk. iv. c. 2.

30-3. 52), accounts for the fighting for Canacee, but he omits all about

Cambinskan and the Falcon. Another ending was written by John Lane[157] in

1630, and is contained in MSS. Douce 170 and Ashmole 53, in the Bodleian

Library. Warton (Observations on the Fairy Queen, p. 214) justly calls it a

weak performance.

Dr. Furnivall has printed the whole of this poem, in twelve tedious parts,

for the Chaucer Society; and the result shews that Lane's work is bad

almost beyond belief. It is the duty of every man who values his time to

decline to read 237 pages of such stuff as this:--

Algarsif at his broother shooke his pike:

Camballo stowtlie did att him the like;

naie, quicklie, with a shock of pikes, chargd home,

theare right to make his rendeuous first known:

gainst whome Algarsif rann from thambuscado,

to prove his ernest provd no French bravado.'

Since I wrote the preceding remarks, which were formerly printed in my

edition of The Prioresses Tale, &c., for the Clarendon Press, Mr. Clouston

has taken up the subject in a very exhaustive manner. I must therefore

refer the reader to his essay 'On the Magical Elements in Chaucer's

Squire's Tale, with Analogues,' printed for the Chaucer Society in 1889. He

there deals fully with the subjects of Magic Horses, Chariots, &c., Magic

Mirrors and Images, Magic Rings and Gems, the Language of Animals, and

Magic Swords and Spears. He lays particular stress upon the Romance of

Cléomadès and Claremonde above mentioned, to which Keightley had already

drawn attention. 'The French prose version, called L'Histoire et Chronique

du vaillant Chevallier Cléomadès et la belle Claremonde, appeared about the

year 1480[158]; and of this work Count Tressan published an _extrait_ in

the Bibliothèque des romans, April 1777, t. i. 169 ff.; see also Oeuvres du

Conte de Tressan, Paris, 1822, t. iii. pp. 255-298. Of this abstract

Keightley gives an English translation in his Tales and Popular Fictions,

pp. 43-69.

'Keightley has remarked that the name of Claremonde occurs in the romance

of Valentine and Orson, it being that of the lady beloved by the valiant

hero, and also that a magic horse figures in the same work; but he has

strangely overlooked a number of incidents which have evidently been

adopted from the story of Cléomadès and Claremonde. The magic horse is

described in the 21st chapter of a chap-book version of The Renown'd

History of Valentine and Orson, the two Sons of the Emperor of Greece.

'I quite agree with M. Paris in considering that the origin of the French

metrical romance was Morisco-Spanish, whether Adenès derived his materials

from Blanche of Castile, or otherwise.'

With respect to the story of the Falcon, Mr. Clouston observes: 'The scene

between Canacé and the Falcon is essentially Asiatic, and Warton's

complaint that the bird is represented as talking of Troilus, Paris, and

Jason, is utterly absurd. It is, in fact, an Indian fable, with a bird

talking out of the Grecian classics instead of out of the Vedas and the

Shastras. If the poet had any purpose in writing the story of the deserted

Falcon, it could only have been that of any Asiatic fabler, namely, to

convey certain moral lessons through the feigned speech of a bird. That

Chaucer had before him, or in his memory, a model for his story of the

Falcon is not only possible but highly probable. There exists a somewhat

analogous ancient Indian tale of two birds--a male parrot and a hen-maina,

a species of hill-starling--in which, however, it is the male bird who is

distressed at the female's treachery, and is about to cast himself into the

midst of a forest-fire, when he is rescued by a benevolent traveller, to

whom he relates the story of his woes. This tale forms the third of the

Twenty-five Tales of a Vampyre (Vetála panchavinsati), and may be found in

Tawney's translation of the Kathá Sarit Ságara, vol. ii. pp. 245-250.'

It is necessary to mention here that Prof. Brandl, of Göttingen, in

Englische Studien, xii. 161, actually propounded a theory that Cambinskan

was intended to represent Edward III., and that Canacee does not mean 'the

king's daughter,' as Chaucer (who might be supposed to know) expressly

says, but his daughter-in-law Constance, second wife of John of Gaunt; with

much more to the same effect, all purely gratuitous. Fortunately, his

theory was promptly shewn to be untenable by Prof. Kittredge, of Harvard

University, in a paper which also appeared in Englische Studien, xiii. 1;

and we may dismiss this dream as being wholly unfounded. The Tale was

written after Edward's death.

§ 69. WORDS OF THE FRANKELEYN. See F 673-708. In at least fifteen MSS. and

in the black-letter editions, the Squieres Tale is followed by the

Marchantes Tale. In order to suit this arrangement, the word _Frankeleyn_

in F 675 is altered to _Marchant_. So again, in ll. 696 and 699. In the

last case, the rime is affected; and, to bring this right, the words _the

frankeleyn_ are altered to _the marchant, certeyn_. Tyrwhitt well points

out two grave objections to this arrangement. The former is, that, in this

case, the Marchant is made (in F 682, 690) to say that he has a son who has

learnt to play at dice, and only a few lines further on (in E 1233-4) that

he has been married just two months, and _not more_! The latter is, that

the sentiments attributed to the speaker, who laments his son's

extravagance and praises 'gentillesse,' are suitable to the character of

the honest and hospitable Frankeleyn, but not to that of the Marchant, if

we may judge of his sentiments from the loose character of his Tale. In the

same editions and in most of the MSS., the Frankeleyns Tale follows the

Clerkes Tale, causing further trouble. The editions also transpose one of

the stanzas in Chaucer's Envoy to the Clerkes Tale, so as to make E

1195-1200 come at the end. They then insert the (genuine) stanza printed in

the footnote to vol. iv. p. 424, and afterwards pass on at once to F 709.

The same arrangement occurs in MS. Harl. 7333. Other MSS. insert (after the

Clerkes Tale) various scraps taken from E 2419-40, followed by lines

corresponding to F 1-8, at the same time changing _Squyer_ (in F 1) to

_Sire Frankeleyn_, which makes the line too long. Cf. § 67.

However, the best MSS., including E. and Dd., are here correct; and we have

only to follow their guidance. In these, the Words of the Frankeleyn (F

673-708) are immediately followed by the true Prologue to the Frankeleyns

Tale (F 709-728).

§ 70. THE FRANKLIN'S PROLOGUE. This Prologue is rightly placed before the

Tale even in the black-letter editions and in the MSS. which assign lines

673-708 to the Marchant. In the old editions, it follows the (once final)

stanza of the Clerkes Tale which is printed in the footnote to p. 424 (vol.

iv).

§ 71. THE FRANKELEYNS TALE. We cannot doubt that Chaucer adapted this Tale,

as he himself asserts, from a Breton lay; cf. note to F 709. Not only is

the scene laid in Brittany (F 729), but we find special mention of Penmark

(801) and of Kayrrud (808); see notes. The story itself turns upon the

magical removal of rocks on the Breton coast (993). This is particularly

worthy of notice, because (as will be seen below) Boccaccio altered this

circumstance in order to render the story more congruous to an Italian

location and scenery; a fact which shews at once that Chaucer did not adopt

the story from the Italian, as some have inconsiderately assumed. It must

be said once more, that Chaucer does not seem to have read the Decamerone.

The whole character of the story agrees well with that of the Breton lays

versified by Marie de France; indeed, it is almost a wonder that her

collection does not include the story now under consideration.

The ultimate source of the Tale is certainly Eastern, as shewn in Mr.

Clouston's essay on the story of 'The Damsel's Rash Promise,' printed in

Originals and Analogues (Chaucer Soc.), p. 291. I cannot do better than

transcribe his remarks:--

'The oldest known form of Chaucer's well-told Tale of the chaste Dorigen is

probably found in a group of Indian fictions entitled Vetála Panchavinsati,

"Twenty-five Tales of a Vetála," or Vampyre, which are incorporated with

the great Sanskrit collection, Kathá Sarit Ságara, "Ocean of the Rivers of

Story"; but they still exist as a separate and distinct work, though

considerably abridged, in most of the vernacular languages of India: in

Tamil, Vedála Kadai; in Hindí, Bytál Pachísí, &c.... This is the Vetála

story, from Prof. C. H. Tawney's translation of the Kathá Sarit Ságara,

published at Calcutta, vol. ii. p. 278[159].

'THE STORY OF MADANASENÁ.

'There was an excellent King of the name of Vírabáhu, who imposed his

orders on the heads of all kings. He had a splendid city named Anangapura,

and in it there lived a rich merchant, named Arthadatta; that

merchant-prince had for elder child a son called Dhanadatta, and his

younger child was a pearl of maidens, named Madanasená.

'One day, as she was playing with her companions in her own garden, a young

merchant, named Dharmadatta, a friend of her brother, saw her. When he saw

that maiden ..., he was at once robbed of his senses by the arrows of love,

that fell upon him in showers.... Then Madanasená entered her house, and

grief at no longer beholding her entered the breast of Dharmadatta....

'In the meanwhile Dharmadatta went home, and thinking upon that fair one,

he remained tossing to and fro upon his bed, smitten by the rays of the

moon.... And in the morning he woke up, and went and saw her once more in

that very garden, alone and in privacy. So he went up to her, longing to

embrace her, and falling at her feet, he tried to coax her with words

tender from affection. But she said to him with great earnestness: "I am a

maiden, betrothed to another ... for my father has bestowed me on the

merchant Samudradatta, and I am to be married in a few days."... But

Dharmadatta said to her: "Happen what may, I cannot live without you." When

the merchant's daughter heard this, she was afraid that he would use force

to her, so she said to him: "Let my marriage first be celebrated here; let

my father reap the long-desired fruit of bestowing a daughter in marriage;

then will I certainly visit you, for your love has gained my heart." When

he heard this, he said: "I love not a woman that has been embraced by

another man."... She replied: "Then I will visit you as soon as I am

married, and afterwards I will go to my husband." But though she made this

promise, he would not let her go without further assurance; so she

confirmed the truth of her promise with an oath. Then he let her go, and

she entered the house in low spirits.

'And when the lucky day had arrived, and the auspicious ceremony of

marriage had taken place, she went to her husband's house, and spent that

day in merriment, and then retired with him. But she repelled her husband's

caresses, and said slowly, with downcast face: "I love you more than my

life, but hear what I have to say. Rise up cheerfully, and promise me

immunity from punishment; take an oath to that effect, my husband, in order

that I may tell you." [She then repeats the story.]

'Samudradatta ... being bound by the necessity of keeping his word ... gave

her leave to go where she would; and she rose up, and left her husband's

house....

'A certain thief saw Madanasená, as she was going along alone at night, and

rushing upon her, seized her by the hem of her garment.... The helpless

merchant's daughter told him her story, and entreated him as follows:

"Excuse me for a moment that I may keep my word, and as soon as I have done

that, I will quickly return to you, if you remain here. Believe me, my good

man, I will never break this true promise of mine." When the thief heard

that, he let her go.... She, for her part, went to the merchant

Dharmadatta. And when he saw that she had come to that wood, he asked how

it happened; and then, though he had longed for her, he said to her, "I am

delighted at your faithfulness to your promise: What have I to do with you,

the wife of another? So go back, as you came, before any one sees you."...

[Then] she went to the thief, who was waiting for her in the road.... She

told him how the merchant let her go. Then the thief said: "Since this is

so, then I also will let you go, being pleased with your truthfulness:

return home with your ornaments."

'So he, too, let her go, and ... [she] went delighted to her husband, and

... she told him the whole story. And Samudradatta, perceiving that his

good wife had kept her word without losing her honour, ... welcomed her as

a pure-minded woman, who had not disgraced her family, and lived happily

with her ever afterwards.

'When the Vétála had told this story ... to king Trivikramasena, he went on

to say to him: "So tell me, King, which was the really generous man of

those three--the two merchants and the thief?"... The king said to him: "Of

those three the thief was the only really generous man.... For of course

her husband let her go ... how could a gentleman desire to keep a wife that

was attached to another? And the other resigned her because his passion was

dulled by time, and he was afraid that her husband, knowing the facts,

would tell the king the next day. But the thief, a reckless evil-doer,

working in the dark, was really generous to let go a lovely woman,

ornaments and all."'

The resemblance of this to Chaucer's story is certainly striking. The chief

variation is in changing the thief into a magician who performs wonders for

a large sum of money.

Mr. Clouston subjoins many variants of the story. One, originally in

Burmese, is from Captain Sparks' translation of the Decisions of Princess

Thoodhamma Tsari. A Persian analogue is given from Sir John Malcolm's

Sketches of Persia, chap. xx.; and another from the celebrated Persian

collection, entitled Tútí Náma, or Parrot-Book. A somewhat different

version follows, from the Bahár-i-Dánush, or Spring of Knowledge, a

translation of which was given by Dr. Jonathan Scott in 1799. The story is

also known to the Jews; and two Hebrew versions are given, both from a

Parisian journal entitled Mélusine; 1885, tome ii. c. 542-6. A Siberian

version follows, from Radloff's Proben der Volksliteratur der türkischen

Stämme des Süd-Siberiens, vol. iii. s. 389; and next, a Turkish version,

from Mr. Gibb's translation of the Forty Vazírs, London, 1886; p. 105.

Curiously enough, a very similar version is found in Gaelic, and was

probably introduced into the Highlands by the Norsemen; see Campbell's

Popular Tales of West Highlands, vol. ii. p. 16. Mr. Clouston next

discusses the European versions of the story. Of these, the most important

is that in Boccaccio's Decamerone[160], Day 10. nov. 5, of which Professor

Morley has the following epitome:--

'Dianora, the wife of the rich Gilberto, being immodestly affected by

Messer Ansaldo, to free herself from his tedious importunity, she appointed

him to perform, in her judgment, an act of impossibility--namely, to give

her a garden as plentifully stored with fragrant flowers in January as in

the flourishing month of May. Ansaldo, by means of a bond which he made to

a magician, performed her request. Messer Gilberto, the lady's husband,

gave consent that his wife should fulfil her promise made to Ansaldo; who

hearing the bountiful mind of her husband released her of her promise, and

the magician likewise discharged Ansaldo, without taking aught of him.'

We may be sure that Boccaccio and Chaucer drew their versions from very

similar sources, as shewn by the introduction of the magician. At the same

time, we not only notice how Boccaccio has given Italian names to his

characters, but has even altered the chief circumstance on which the story

depends, by substituting a flower-garden in January for the removal of the

rocks. This notion he found ready to hand in the legend of St. Dorothea,

familiar to all readers of Massinger and Dekker's Virgin Martyr.

Beaumont and Fletcher dramatised Chaucer's story in their one-act play

called The Triumph of Honour, which forms one of the set entitled Four

Plays in One. They preserve the name Dorigen, though the husband is

Sophocles, duke of Athens, and the lover is Martius, a Roman general. They

also retain the notion of the removal of the rocks; for Dorigen exclaims:--

'For here I vow unto the gods, these rocks,

These rocks we see so fixed, shall be removed,

Made champain field, ere I so impious prove

To stain my lord's bed with adulterous love.'

The supposed miracle is achieved by Valerius, the brother of Martius, who

had been trained 'in the mathematics' by an 'old Chaldean.'

Finally, 'part of the plot of a comedy, printed in 1620, entitled The Two

Merry Milkmaids ... seems founded on Boccaccio's novel, yet the heroine's

name [Dorigena] is that of the lady in Chaucer's version.'

Tyrwhitt bids us remark that 'the long list of virtuous women in Dorigen's

soliloquy is plainly copied from Hieronymus contra Iouinianum.' Cf.

Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, ii. 293.

GROUP G.

§ 72. THE SECONDE NONNES TALE. There is a peculiar interest about this

Tale, because, as compared with the rest, it so clearly shews us Chaucer's

mode of compilation; his advance from close translation to a more free

handling of materials; and his change of rhythm, from stanzas to rimed

couplets. The closeness of the translation and the rhythm alike point to

early workmanship; and, most fortunately, we are not left to conjecture in

this matter, since our author himself refers to this piece, by the Title of

the Lyf of Seint Cecyle, in his Prologue to the Legend of Good Women, l.

426. It was probably written some time before the Legend. Dr. Furnivall

assigns to it the conjectural date of 1373, which many critics have

accepted[161]. The expression in l. 78, 'Yet preye I yow that _reden_ that

I wryte,' clearly shews that it was neither originally written as a tale of

the series, nor properly revised; and the expression in l. 62, 'And though

that I, unworthy _sone_ of Eve,' cannot fail to strike the reader as a

singular one to be put into the mouth of a _nun_. We possess, in fact, the

Tale in its original shape, without either revision or introduction; though

I fully suspect ll. 36-56, which are largely from Dante, was a later

insertion[162]. What is called the 'Prologue' is, in fact, nothing of the

sort; it is merely such an introduction as was suitable for the Legend at

the time of translation. We have no description of the Second Nun, no

introduction of her as a narrator, nor anything to connect the Tale with

those that precede it. There is no authority, indeed, for attributing it to

the Second Nun at all beyond the mere rubrics printed at pp. 509, 513, and

526 of vol. iv.

It is not even made quite clear to us who the Second Nun was. We may,

however, conclude that, as the Prioresse was herself a Nun, i.e. the

_first_ nun (see Prol. l. 118), the person intended is the 'Another Nonne'

mentioned in the Prologue, l. 163, but mentioned nowhere else. The first

line of the Canon's Yeoman's Prologue, G 554, merely mentions 'the lyf of

Seint Cecyle,' without any hint as to the supposed narrator of it. The

Prioress herself, on the other hand, is properly introduced to us, and her

Tale is carefully inserted in its right place.

An analysis of the so-called Prologue to this Tale is given in the Notes,

at the beginning; cf. note to l. 84. Tyrwhitt pointed out that the Tale

itself is translated from the Life of St. Cecilia as given in the Legenda

Aurea (or Golden Legend) of Jacobus Januensis, or Jacobus a Voragine, who

was archbishop of Genoa at the close of the thirteenth century; compare the

heading above, l. 85. But Dr. Kölbing has since shewn, in an able article

which appeared in Englische Studien, i. 215, that Tyrwhitt's suggestion is

only partially correct. As a matter of fact, Chaucer followed a Latin

original which agreed rather closely with the account in the Legenda Aurea

down to l. 348, or thereabouts. But _after_ this point (and in a few places

even _before_ it) his translation better agrees with another Latin Life of

St. Cecilia, derived from Simeon Metaphrastes. This account is quoted by

Dr. Kölbing from the printed edition in Historiae Aloysii Lipomani de vitis

sanctorum, pars II., Lovanii, 1571, p. 32; which he denotes by the symbol

'Lip.' Of this work, the only edition accessible to me is that entitled De

Vitis Sanctorum, ab Aloysio Lipomano, episcopo Veronae, a F. L. Surio

emendatis et auctis, Venetiis, 1581, p. 161; this I shall quote by the same

symbol, as I suppose there is no material difference between the two

editions.

The best text of the former Life of St. Cecilia (which I denote by 'LA') is

that given in the second edition of the Legenda Aurea by Dr. Th. Grässe,

published at Leipsic in 1850. Dr. Furnivall has printed it at length, from

Grässe's first edition, 1846, in his Originals and Analogues, Pt. ii. pp.

192-205; side by side with the French version of La Legende Dorée, as

translated by Jehan de Vignay, printed at Paris in 1513. The suggestion was

made in 'Bell's' edition of Chaucer (really edited by Mr. Jephson), that

Chaucer's original was not the Latin, but the French text. A very slight

comparison shews at once that this idea is wrong (as Dr. Furnivall points

out), and that Chaucer unquestionably followed one or more Latin versions.

It is, however, probable that Chaucer may have seen the French version

also, as he seems to have taken from it the idea of his first four stanzas,

ll. 1-28. But he has taken thence merely the general idea, and no more; see

notes to l. 1 and to l. 7. The Invocation to the Virgin bears some

resemblance to the Prioresses Prologue; see note to l. 50. It contains,

moreover, a passage (36-56) which is a free translation of one in Dante's

Paradiso; see note to l. 36. I may add here that Dr. Furnivall has also

reprinted two more lives of St. Cecilia, one from Caxton's Golden Legende,

in English prose, ed. 1483, fol. ccclxxvij, back; the other in English

verse, in a metre similar to that used by Robert of Gloucester, from MS.

Ashmole 43, leaf 185, back, in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Another copy

of the latter, found in MS. Laud 108, is printed in the Early South-English

Legendary, ed. C. Horstmann, p. 490 (Early Eng. Text Society). There is yet

another Middle-English version, in short rimed lines, found in MS. Harl.

4196 and MS. Cott. Tib. E 7; it is printed (from the former MS.) in

Englische Studien, i. 235. These do not throw much further light upon the

matter; and, in fact, the chief texts worth consulting are the Latin one of

Jacobus a Voragine (or 'LA'), and the somewhat different version due to

Simeon Metaphrastes (or 'Lip.'). Of these Dunlop says, in his History of

Fiction, 3rd ed. p. 286--'The grand repertory of pious fiction seems to

have been the Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine, a Genoese Dominican, a

work entitled Golden from its popularity, on the same principle that this

epithet was bestowed on the 'Ass' of Apuleius. A similar composition in

Greek, by Simon Metaphrastes, written about the end of the tenth century,

was the prototype of this work of the thirteenth century, which comprehends

the lives of individual saints, whose history had already been written, or

was current from tradition. The Golden Legend, however, does not consist

solely of the lives of saints, but is said in the colophon to be

interspersed with many other beautiful and strange relations, which were

probably extracted from the Gesta Longobardorum, and other sources too

obscure and voluminous to be easily traced; indeed, one of the original

titles of the Legenda Aurea was Historia Lombardica. The work of [Jacobus

a] Voragine was translated into French by Jean de Vignai, and was one of

the three books from which Caxton's Golden Legend was compiled.'

Dr. Kölbing further shews that Chaucer also took a few particulars from the

Lives of Valerian and Tiburtius, as given in the Acta Sanctorum (April 14).

For a curious example of this, see note to l. 369, on the word

_corniculere_.

Dr. Kölbing's article should be consulted. I here subjoin only some of the

more important points. The numbers refer to the lines of the Tale, in Group

G.

85-348. Chiefly from LA. 189: 'for Ioye.' Cf. Lip.: [Urbanus] _magno

gaudio_ est affectus, ... et manibus in caelum extensis. LA has: ille manus

ad caelum expandens.

218, 9. Cf. Lip.: Inuenit Caeciliam orantem in cubiculo, et Angelum Domini

_stantem prope eam_. LA has: Caeciliam cum angelo loquentem in cubiculo

inuenit.

233. Lip.: _assensus es_; LA: credidisti.

265. Lip.: _Quomodo_ hoc cognouisti; LA: unde hoc nosti.

315. Lip.: et nos quoque cum eo puniemur, si inuenti fuerimus ad eum

ambulantes; LA: et nos in illius flammis pariter inuoluemur.

349-357. Lip.: _Tunc Valerianus deduxit fratrem suum ad_ sanctissimum

_Papam Vrbanum_. Cui postquam narrauit omnia ... benigno _Deo egit

gratias_. _Acceptum_ autem _cum omni gaudio et exultatione_ Tiburtium, cum

... _baptizasset_, &c. Quae quidem cum _perfecta_ fuissent _eius doctrina_,

post septem dies _Christi militem restituit_. Here LA merely has: Ductus

igitur et purificatus. Whence we see the importance of here consulting the

second Latin text. Many similar examples occur throughout the latter part

of the Tale, for which I must refer the reader to Dr. Kölbing's article and

to the Notes in vol. v.

The earliest English Life of St. Cecilia is the Anglo-Saxon version printed

at p. 149 of Cockayne's 'Shrine,' of which I here offer a rather close

translation:--

'On the 22nd day of this month [November] is the martyrdom of St. Cecilia,

the holy woman. She was wedded in her youth to a noble man, who was a

heathen; but she was a Christian. She was clothed with a hair-cloth upon

her body; and above the hair-cloth she was clothed with garments enwoven

with gold. And, on the night when she was led into the bride-chamber, she

said to the bridegroom that she saw an angel from heaven, who would slay

him with a sudden death if ever he touched her with unclean love. Then she

instructed the bridegroom, so that he received baptism, and believed in

God. When he was baptised, and entered the bride-chamber, then stood the

angel beside her with shining wings; and he had in his hand two crowns,

that sometimes glistened like rose-blossoms and sometimes like

lily-blossoms; and he gave one of the crowns to the woman, and the other to

the bridegroom, and said: "Keep ye these crowns by cleanly deeds, because I

have brought them to you from God's paradise."

'This woman suffered martyrdom for Christ. The prefect [lit. reeve] of the

city of Rome was named Almatheus, who strove to compel her to forsake

Christ; to which when she would not consent, he commanded her to be

enclosed in a boiling [lit. burning] bath, in which she remained, without

sweating, for a day and a night. Then the executioner approached her with a

sword, and struck her thrice therewith, but was unable to strike off her

head. But she commended herself to the pope, who was named Urbanus; and

then, in the pope's presence, distributed all that she had, and gave it

him, and said: "For three days' space I have prayed to the Lord that I

might give thee this, in order that thou mightest hallow my house for a

church." And thereupon she gave up her spirit to God.'

The Life of St. Cecilia occurs also in Ælfric's Lives of the Saints, as

given in MS. Julius E vii, a portion of which I have edited for the Early

English Text Society, though this passage is not as yet in type. I do not

find that this Life differs from that in the Aurea Legenda in any

particular that deserves especial mention, except that it is somewhat

briefer, and omits, as might be expected, the passage in Chaucer's Tale,

ll. 270-283.

The chief interest of the Life of St. Cecilia in Caxton's Golden Legende is

that, as Dr. Kölbing has shewn, his translation exhibits clear traces of

the influence of Chaucer. A single example will perhaps suffice. In l. 432,

Chaucer has: 'Of whennes comth thyn answering so rude?' And Caxton has:

'Fro whens cometh thy rude answer?' Yet neither of the Latin texts suggests

this exact expression. LA has: 'Unde tibi tanta praesumtio respondendi?'

Lip.: 'Undenam est tibi haec fiducia?'

In The Military and Religious Life in the Middle Ages, by Paul Lacroix, at

p. 426, is the following brief account of Saint Cecilia: 'Under the reign

of Alexander Severus, many illustrious martyrs were put to death: St.

Cecilia, her husband, and her brother-in-law among the number. St. Cecilia

was descended from a very ancient family which dated back to the time of

Tarquin the Proud; she belonged to the same house as Metella, many of whose

children were raised to the honours of triumph and of the consulate in the

heyday of the Roman republic. Her parents gave her in marriage to a young

Roman patrician, named Valerian. But Cecilia had dedicated her virginity to

God, and her husband, converted to the faith by her arguments and

entreaties, respected her vow, and himself converted his brother Tiburtius.

They all three relieved their persecuted brethren, and this Christian

charity betrayed them. In spite of their distinguished birth, their wealth

and their connexions, they were arrested, and their refusal to sacrifice to

the false gods led to their being condemned to death. We find a multitude

of analogous occurrences in Gaul, and also in the most distant provinces of

the East.' On the preceding page of the same book is figured a copy of a

piece of mosaic work of the third or fourth century, which was taken from

the cemetery of St. Sixtus, and is preserved in the church of St. Cecilia,

at Rome. It represents St. Cecilia and St. Valerian, with roses and lilies

in bloom at their feet, and having on each side of them a palm-tree laden

with fruit, a symbol of their victories and of their meritorious martyrdom.

Upon one of the palm-trees is a phoenix with a 'gloria' round its head, the

ancient symbol of resurrection.

The following interesting account of the church and statue of St. Cecilia

is extracted from Mrs. Jameson's beautiful work upon Sacred and Legendary

Art:--

'According to her wish, the house of Cecilia was consecrated as a church,

the chamber in which she suffered martyrdom being regarded as a spot of

peculiar sanctity. There is mention of a council held in the church of St.

Cecilia by Pope Symmachus, in the year 500. Afterwards, in the troubles and

invasions of the barbarians, this ancient church fell into ruin, and was

rebuilt by Pope Paschal I. in the ninth century. It is related that, while

engaged in this work, Paschal had a dream, in which St. Cecilia appeared to

him, and revealed the spot in which she lay buried; accordingly search was

made, and her body was found in the cemetery of Calixtus, wrapt in a shroud

of gold tissue, and round her feet a linen cloth dipt in her blood: near

her were the remains of Valerian, Tibertius, and Maximus, which, together

with hers, were deposited in the same church, now St.

Cecilia-in-Trastevere. The little room, containing her bath, in which she

was murdered or martyred, is now a chapel. The rich frescoes with which it

was decorated are in a state of utter ruin from age and damp; but the

machinery for heating the bath, the pipes, the stoves, yet remain. This

church, having again fallen into ruin, was again repaired, and sumptuously

embellished in the taste of the sixteenth century, by Cardinal Sfondrati.

On this occasion the sarcophagus containing the body of St. Cecilia was

opened with great solemnity in the presence of several cardinals and

dignitaries of the Church, among others Cardinal Baronius, who has given us

an exact description of the appearance of the body, which had been buried

by Pope Paschal in 820, when exhumed in 1599[163]. "She was lying," says

Baronius, "within a coffin of cypress wood, enclosed in a marble

sarcophagus; not in the manner of one dead and buried, that is, on her

back, but on her right side, as one asleep; and in a very modest attitude;

covered with a simple stuff of taffety, having her head bound with cloth,

and at her feet the remains of the cloth of gold and silk which Pope

Paschal had found in her tomb." Clement VIII ordered that the relics should

remain untouched, inviolate; and the cypress coffin was enclosed in a

silver shrine, and replaced under the altar. This re-interment took place

in presence of the pope and clergy, with great pomp and solemnity, and the

people crowded in from the neighbouring towns to assist at the ceremony.

Stefano Maderno, who was then in the employment of the Cardinal Sfondrati

as sculptor and architect, and acted as his secretary, was not, we may

suppose, absent on this occasion; by the order of the Cardinal he executed

the beautiful and celebrated statue of "St. Cecilia lying dead," which was

intended to commemorate the attitude in which she was found. It is thus

described by Sir Charles Bell:--"The body lies on its side, the limbs a

little drawn up; the hands are delicate and fine,--they are not locked, but

crossed at the wrists: the arms are stretched out. The drapery is

beautifully modelled, and modestly covers the limbs. The head is enveloped

in linen, but the general form is seen, and the artist has contrived to

convey by its position, though not offensively, that it is separated from

the body. A gold circlet is round the neck, to conceal the place of

decollation (?). It is the statue of a lady, perfect in form, and affecting

from the resemblance to reality in the drapery of white marble, and the

unspotted appearance of the statue altogether. It lies as no living body

could lie, and yet correctly, as the dead when left to expire,--I mean in

the gravitation of the limbs."

'It must be remembered that Cecilia did not suffer decollation; that her

head was _not_ separated from the body; and the gold band is to conceal the

wound in the neck; otherwise, this description of the statue agrees exactly

with the description which Cardinal Baronius has given of the body of the

saint when found in 1599.

'The ornaments round the shrine, of bronze and rare and precious marbles,

are in the worst taste, and do not harmonize with the pathetic simplicity

of the figure.

'At what period St. Cecilia came to be regarded as the patron saint of

music, and accompanied by the musical attributes, I cannot decide. It is

certain that in ancient devotional representations she is not so

distinguished; nor in the old Italian series of subjects from her life have

I found any in which she is figured as singing, or playing upon

instruments[164].'

§ 73. THE CANON'S YEOMAN'S PROLOGUE, AND TALE. The Prologue, as well as the

Tale itself, belongs to the very latest period of Chaucer's work. This is

clear at once, from its originality, as well as from the metre, and the

careless ease of the rhythm, which sometimes almost degenerates into

slovenliness, as though our author had written some of it in hot haste,

with the intention of revising it more carefully afterwards. Besides, the

poet has boldly improved upon his plan of the pilgrims' stories as laid

down in his Prologue. We have there no hint of the Canon nor of his Yeoman;

they are two new pilgrims who join themselves to the rest upon the road. A

dispute arising between the master and the man, the former is put out of

countenance, and actually rides away for very sorrow and shame (l. 702);

but the man remains, to denounce the cupidity of the alchemists and to

expose their trickery. Tyrwhitt remarks:--'The introduction of the Chanouns

Yeman to tell a tale, at a time when so many of the original characters

remain to be called upon, appears a little extraordinary. It should seem,

that some sudden resentment had determined Chaucer to interrupt the regular

course of his work, in order to insert a satire against the alchemists.

That their pretended science was much cultivated about this time, and

produced its usual evils, may fairly be inferred from the Act, which was

passed soon after, 5 Henry IV, cap. iv. to make it Felonie _to multiplie

gold or siluer, or to vse the art of multiplication_.' He adds--'The first

considerable coinage of gold in this country was begun by Edward III in the

year 1343, and according to Camden (in his Remains, art. _Money_), "the

Alchemists did affirm, as an unwritten verity, that the Rose-nobles, which

were coined soon after, were made by projection or multiplication

Alchemical of Raymund Lully in the Tower of London." Ashmole, in his

Theatrum Chemicum, p. 443, has repeated this ridiculous story concerning

Lully with additional circumstances, as if he really believed it; though

Lully, by the best accounts, had been dead above twenty years before Edward

III began to coin gold[165].'

The above-mentioned volume by Ashmole, entitled Theatrum Chemicum[166], is

a very singular production. And, perhaps, not the least singular

circumstance is that Ashmole actually gives 'The Tale of the Chanon's

Yeman, written by our ancient and famous poet, Geoffry Chaucer,' Prologue

and all, at full length (pp. 227-256), under the impression, apparently,

that Chaucer was really a believer in the science! He says--'One reason why

I selected out of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales that of the Chanon's Yeoman

was, to let the world see what notorious cheating there has beene ever

used, under pretence of this true (though injur'd) Science; Another is, to

shew that Chaucer himselfe was a Master therein.' It is indeed true that

Chaucer had examined into alchemy very closely; but it is perfectly clear

that he had made up his mind, with his strong English common sense, that

the whole matter was a delusion. Had he lived in the present century, he

could hardly have spoken out in more assured terms. In a similar manner he

had studied astrology, and was equally a disbeliever in all but the terms

of it and a few of its most general and vague assertions. He says

expressly, in his Treatise on the Astrolabe, pt. ii. sec. 4, l.

36:--'natheles, thise ben observauncez of iudicial matiere and rytes of

payens [pagans], in which my spirit ne hath no feith, ne no knowing of hir

_horoscopum_.' But it is evident that the believers in alchemy had to make

the best use they could of Chaucer's language, by applying it as being

directed only against notorious cheats; and accordingly, we find in The

Ordinall of Alchimy, by Thomas Norton of Bristol, printed in Ashmole's

collection, various passages imitated from Chaucer, such as, e.g. that at

p. 17:--

'The fals man walketh from Towne to Towne,

For the most parte in a threed-bare Gowne,' &c.

And again, George Ripley, in his Compound of Alchymie, dedicated to King

Edward IV., printed in the same collection, says, at p. 153:--

'Their Clothes be bawdy and woryn threde-bare,

Men may them smell for Multyplyers where they go,' &c.[167]

Ashmole's work contains several treatises which profess to explain alchemy,

nearly all alike couched in mysterious, and often in ridiculous language.

Such are Norton's Ordinall of Alchimy, Ripley's Compound of Alchymie, Liber

Patris Sapientiae, Hermes Bird (really Lydgate's poem of The Churl and the

Bird), Chaucer's Canon's Yeoman's Tale (!), Pearce the Blacke Monke upon

the Elixir, Charnock's Breviary of Naturall Philosophy[168], Ripley's

Mistery of Alchymists, an extract from Gower's Confessio Amantis,

Aristotle's Secreta Secretorum, translated by Lydgate; and so on. On the

whole, the book is equally curious and dull.

It would hardly be possible to give much idea of alchemy in a brief space,

and it would certainly be unprofitable. The curious will find an excellent

article upon it (entitled 'Alchemy') in the new edition of the

Encyclopaedia Britannica; and a history of it, by no means uninteresting,

in the first volume of Thomson's History of Chemistry. In Whewell's History

of the Inductive Sciences, 2nd edition, 1847, vol. i. p. 320, the following

notice of it occurs, which I quote for the reader's convenience:--'Like

other kinds of Mysticism, Alchemy seems to have grown out of the notions of

moral, personal, and mythological qualities, which men associated with

terms, of which the primary application was to physical properties. This is

the form in which the subject is presented to us in the earliest writings

which we possess on the subject of chemistry, those of Geber of Seville,

who is supposed to have lived in the eighth or ninth century. The very

titles of Geber's works show the notions on which this pretended science

proceeds. They are, "Of the Search of Perfection;" "Of the Sum of

Perfection or of the Perfect Magistery;" "Of the Invention of Verity, of

Perfection." The basis of this phraseology is the distinction of metals

into more or less _perfect_; gold being the most perfect, as being the most

valuable, most beautiful, most pure, most durable; silver the next; and so

on. The "Search of Perfection" was, therefore, the attempt to convert other

metals into gold; and doctrines were adopted which represented the metals

as all compounded of the same elements, so that this was theoretically

possible. But the mystical trains of association were pursued much further

than this; gold and silver were held to be the most noble of metals; gold

was their King, and silver their Queen. Mythological associations were

called in aid of these fancies, as had been done in astrology. Gold was

Sol, the sun; silver was Luna, the moon; copper, iron, tin, lead, were

assigned to Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. The processes of mixture and heat

were spoken of as personal actions and relations, struggles and victories.

Some elements were conquerors, some conquered; there existed preparations

which possessed the power of changing the whole of a body into a substance

of another kind: these were called _magisteries_[169]. When gold and

quicksilver are combined, the king and the queen are married, to produce

children of their own kind. It will easily be conceived, that when chemical

operations were described in phraseology of this sort, the enthusiasm of

the fancy would be added to that of the hopes, and observation would not be

permitted to correct the delusion, or to suggest sounder and more rational

views.

'The exaggeration of the vague notion of perfection and power in the object

of the alchemist's search was carried further still. The same preparation

which possessed the faculty of turning baser metals into gold, was imagined

to be also a universal medicine, to have the gift of curing or preventing

diseases, prolonging life, producing bodily strength and beauty: the

_philosopher's stone_ was finally invested with every desirable efficacy

which the fancy of the "philosophers" could devise.'

See also Dr. Whewell's account of the doctrine of 'the four elements' in

the same work; vol. iii. p. 121.

The history of the rise and growth of the ideas involved in alchemy is ably

treated of in the article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica already referred

to; it is of some interest to note how some of the more important notions

were developed. From ancient Persia came the idea of a correspondence

between the heavenly bodies and parts of the human frame, alluded to in

Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe, and in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, i.

3. 148[170]. From ancient India came the idea of a peregrination of sinful

souls through the animal, vegetable, and even the mineral world, till they

were absorbed into Deity. Hence was further evolved the notion of a

transmutation of elements. The Greeks held that different deities had under

their protection and guidance different types of men; an idea still

preserved in our words _mercurial_, _jovial_, and _saturnine_. The school

of Hippocrates held the doctrine of the four elements, or primary

substances of which all others were made, an idea first mentioned (it is

said) by Empedocles; to which Aristotle added a fifth element, that of

ether (Arist. de Caelo, i. 2). But this idea is probably older; for we find

five _bhútas_, or elements, enumerated in Sanskrit, viz. earth, water,

fire, air, and ether; see Benfey's Skt. Dict. s.v. _bhú_, p. 658. Another

very ancient notion is that male and female principles existed in all three

worlds alike, animal, vegetable, and mineral; from which it followed that

the union of two metals could produce a third. It was argued that

'monstrosities are the productions of diseased metals (really alloys),

which, if properly treated, may be cured, and will turn to gold, or at

least silver. The second stage in this imitation of nature is to obtain, by

tincture or projection, solid or liquid gold, the cure of all evils';

Encycl. Brit. i. 463, col. 2. This notion is still preserved in the word

_arsenic_ (Gk. [Greek: arsenikon], male). It was universally believed that

nature produced changes in the substance of various metals by slow degrees,

and the great object of alchemy was to produce the same changes quickly.

The chief names in connexion with the progress of alchemy are Geber, a

Sabaean, who flourished about A.D. 800; Avicenna, a native of Shiraz, born

A.D. 980, died June, 1037; Albertus Magnus, born about 1193, died Nov. 15,

1280, who uses much more intelligible language than alchemists usually

indulge in; Raymund Lully, born at Majorca in 1235, a scholar of Roger

Bacon, who was himself deeply imbued with the mystery of alchemy; Arnoldus

de Villa Nova (mentioned by Chaucer), so named because born at Villeneuve,

in Provence, in 1240; and others. Paracelsus[171], a Swiss physician (born

in 1493, died 1541) was somewhat better than a mere alchemist. He did

something towards destroying the notion of the necessity of consulting

astrological influences, and prepared the way for the discoveries of Van

Helmont (born at Brussels in 1577, died 1644), with whom the history of

modern chemistry may be said to begin. Van Helmont was the inventor of two

new terms, _gas_[172] and _blas_, the former of which remains in common

use, though the latter is wholly forgotten.

The great storehouse of treatises upon alchemy is the Latin collection, in

five volumes, called Theatrum Chemicum. I have made considerable use of the

edition of this work published in 1660, which I have frequently quoted in

the Notes. We hence gather that most of the authors upon the subject wished

men to believe that the true secrets of the science were known to

_themselves only_; yet they all learnt more or less of a certain jargon

which they continually repeated, attributing their empirical rules to

Hermes, or Geber, or other supposed masters. The same ideas, alleged

results, and supposed principles continually recur; and the brief statement

of a few of these will at once shew what the reader of an alchemical

treatise may expect to find. Much depended on the supposed powers of

certain numbers. Thus, there were _three_ primary colours, black, white,

and red[173], from which all others were produced by combination; Theat.

Chem. iv. 536. According to Gower, there were really _three_ kinds of the

philosopher's stone, viz. animal, vegetable, and mineral. Some said it was

composed of _three_ parts; body, spirit, and soul--_corpus_, _spiritus_,

and _anima_; Ashmole's Th. Ch. p. 382. Again, there were _four_ elements;

_four_ complexions of nature or temperaments; _four_ colours (said some),

viz. white, black, citrine (i.e. gold-coloured, with a purple tinge), and

red; _four_ savours, insipid, acid, sweet, and bitter; _four_ odours,

sweet, fetid, intense, and slight (_remissus_); Theat. Chem. iii. 82. In

particular, there were _four_ spirits, sulphur, sal ammoniac, quicksilver,

and arsenic; see note to line 778; also _four_ states or conditions, hot,

cold, wet, and dry; Theat. Chem. iv. 537. There were _seven_ planets; and

_because_ there were seven planets, it followed that every planet had a

corresponding note in the musical scale of _seven_ notes. Every planet had

its proper colour; and, in this view, there were _seven_ colours, sable,

vert, gules, or, argent, sanguine, and umber; Batman upon Bartholome, lib.

19, c. 37. Every planet had its proper metal; there were therefore _seven_

metals; see the extract from Gower, in the note to l. 820. Now, as all

substances are made of the same four elements, it follows that if a

substance can be decomposed, and reunited in different proportions, its

nature may be so changed that it shall become another substance. Many

substances, if subjected to heat, are destroyed; but metals are not so, and

therefore became the favourite subject for experiments. It was laid down

that one metal could be transmuted into another, but only after having been

first reduced into its primary elements; Theat. Chem. iv. 531. Ere long, it

was accepted as an axiom that all baser metals could be transmuted either

into gold (or _sol_), typified by the sun, or into silver (or _luna_),

typified by the moon; these being the two extremes between which the other

five metals were ranged. It was agreed that the chief agents in producing

this transmutation were quicksilver and sulphur, and of these quicksilver

was the more important; so much so, that the mention of quicksilver meets

us everywhere, and no alchemist could work without it[174]. It was also

agreed that certain processes must be gone through in a due order,

generally ten or twelve in number; and if _any one_ of them failed, the

whole work had to be begun afresh. They are commonly described as (1)

calcination, (2) solution, (3) separation of the elements, (4) conjunction,

(5) putrefaction, (6) coagulation, (7) cibation, (8) sublimation, (9)

fermentation, (10) exaltation, (11) augmentation or multiplication; and

(12) projection; Theat. Chem. ii. 175, and Ripley's Compound of Alchemy. By

insisting on the necessity of all these processes, alchemists sufficiently

guarded against all chances of an unfavourable result, viz. by securing

that a result could not very well be arrived at.

The moment that we attempt to analyse their processes more closely, we are

met by two difficulties that are simply insuperable: the first, that the

same name is clearly used to denote quite different substances; and the

second, that the same substance is called by many different names. Hence

also arose endless evasions, and arrogant claims to pretended secrets; it

was often said that the quicksilver of the alchemists was a substance only

known to adepts, and that those who used only ordinary quicksilver knew

nothing of the matter. The master could thus always mystify his pupils, and

make it appear that he alone, and no one else, knew what he was talking

about.

Yet it was frequently alleged that the experiments _did_ succeed. The

easiest explanation of this matter is, that the hopes of the alchemists

were doubtless buoyed up by the fact that every now and then the

experiments _appeared_ to succeed; and it is easy to shew how. The close

affinity of quicksilver for gold is well known. I copy the following from a

book on experiments, which really suffices to explain the whole matter. 'If

a sovereign be rubbed with mercury, it will lose its usual appearance, and

appear as if silvered over[175]; the attraction of the gold for the mercury

being sufficient to cause a coating of it to remain. When it is wished to

remove the silvery appearance, dip the sovereign in a dilute solution of

nitric acid, which will entirely take it off.' Now the alchemists tell us

that quicksilver must always be used in all experiments; and they

constantly recommend the introduction into the substances experimented on

of a _small_ quantity of gold, which they thought would be increased. The

experiments constantly failed; and whenever they failed, the pieces of

molten metal were carefully saved, to be used over and over again. The

frequent introduction of small quantities of gold caused that metal to

accumulate; and if, by any favourable process, the quicksilver was

separated from the mass, a considerable quantity of gold would now and then

actually appear. This account is so much in accordance with all that we

read, that we may confidently accept the conclusion of Dr. Thomson, the

author of the History of Chemistry, that the vaunted philosopher's stone

was certainly an _amalgam of gold_; which, 'if projected into melted lead

or tin, and afterwards cupellated, would leave a portion of gold; all the

gold, of course, that existed previously in the amalgam.' He adds that 'the

alchemists who prepared the amalgam could not be ignorant that it contained

gold'; a statement which I am inclined to modify by suggesting that it may

very easily have contained _more gold than they supposed it did_. In a

word, we may conclude that some deceived themselves, and others were

conscious cheats.

GROUP H.

§ 74. THE MANCIPLE'S PROLOGUE. In the black-letter editions, this Prologue

begins with the 16 lines printed at p. 289 (vol. iv) as the Epilogue to the

Nonne Prestes Tale; because, in them, that Tale precedes. See remarks on §

51 above (p. 433).

The Prologue is self-explanatory; we see how the responsibility passed from

the Cook to the Manciple. It is curious that the Cook is addressed as if he

had told no Tale hitherto; see, as to this, the remarks on § 28 above (p.

399).

§ 75. THE MAUNCIPLES TALE. With respect to this story, Tyrwhitt briefly

remarks that 'The Fable of the Crow has been related by so many authors,

from Ovid down to Gower, that it is impossible to say whom Chaucer

principally followed. His skill in new dressing an old story was never,

perhaps, more successfully exerted.'

Chaucer was so familiar with Ovid, and, in particular, with the

Metamorphoses, that we may fairly suppose that this was the real source of

his Tale; see Metam. ii. 534-632. The last line of his story (H 308),

excluding the moral, closely agrees in sense with the last line in Ovid's

tale--'Inter aues albas uetuit considere coruum.'

Gower's story is in his Confessio Amantis, bk. iii, ed. Pauli, i. 305-6;

but it is so briefly sketched, in 35 lines, that Chaucer could have derived

nothing from it, even if he had wished to do so.

Another Middle-English analogue, much more important than Gower's, is the

story of the Magpie, being the 10th Tale in the collection known as The

Seven Sages, printed in Weber's Metrical Romances, iii. 86. It is much the

same as the story of the Popinjay in Wright's edition of the Seven Sages,

p. 73. The version in the Seven Sages clearly points to an Eastern origin

for the story. See Mr. Clouston's essay on The Tell-tale Bird, in Originals

and Analogues (Chaucer Soc.), p. 437; to which I refer the reader for

further information.

Dr. Köppel[176] has shewn that several passages in the moral advice with

which the Tale concludes (including nearly the whole of lines H 325-358),

are taken from a work by Albertano of Brescia, entitled De Arte Loquendi et

Tacendi, written in 1245, and newly edited by Thor Sundby in the second

Appendix to his work called Brunetto Latinos levnet og skrifter (Life and

Writings of Brunetto Latino), Copenhagen, 1869. See further in my Notes.

GROUP I.

§ 76. THE PARSON'S PROLOGUE. Most copies place this after the Manciples

Tale, and insert the word _maunciple_ in the first line. The black-letter

edition of 1542 added the spurious Plowman's Tale _after_ the Parson's,

i.e. at the end of all. But all the later editions in black-letter inserted

this spurious Tale _before_ the Parson's, and hence the editors had to

alter the word _maunciple_ (above) into _Plowman_; which they did.

The Persones Tale was clearly meant to come last (I 47), and there is an

allusion to the hour of 4 P. M. (I 5, and note). The Maunciples Tale well

precedes it, because the Prologue to that Tale says they were approaching

Canterbury (H 2, 3). But there is a great difficulty in the mention of the

early morning (H 16); and this is why Group I has to be taken as a separate

Fragment.

The reading _Foure_, in l. 5, is explained and justified in the Notes.

Some German commentators have endeavoured to discover the date of the Tales

from lines 10, 11, by giving these lines a wholly gratuitous and impossible

interpretation, as if they were meant to express that the moon's position

was in Libra! But Chaucer says nothing of the sort; he is speaking of the

moon's exaltation, and adds, parenthetically, 'I mean (to say) Libra.'

Unluckily, he happens to go wrong; for Libra was the exaltation of Saturn:

but this does not alter the fact, that _exaltation_ never denotes position,

but was a common astrological term. It invariably refers to _a sign of the

Zodiac_; and although Chaucer, for the moment, forgot to which planet Libra

caused an exaltation or increase of strength, he really _did_ know the

meaning of one of the commonest terms in all astrology. It is much to be

regretted that theories should be founded on such gross misconceptions.

§ 77. THE PERSONES TALE. It is now known that this Tale is little else than

an adaptation (with alterations, omissions, and additions, as usual with

Chaucer) of a French treatise by Frère Lorens, entitled La Somme des Vices

et des Vertus, written in 1279. The English work by Dan Michel of

Northgate, usually known by the title of The Ayenbite of Inwyt, or Remorse

of Conscience, is a much more literal and closer translation of the same

treatise, and thus affords a good guide for comparison between Chaucer and

the French original. The French treatise has never been printed, but exists

in two MSS. in the British Museum[177], viz. Cleop. A v, and Royal 19 C ii.

An excellent dissertation on this Tale, in which a close comparison with

its original is duly made, was written in German by Dr. W. Eilers in 1882,

and has been rendered more accessible to Chaucer students by an English

translation made in 1884, and printed in Essays on Chaucer (Chaucer Soc.),

p. 501. Of this Essay I have made much use in the Notes, to which I refer

the reader for further information.

It is clear that this Tale was once an independent Treatise (see § 104, in

vol. iv. p. 644), which people could either 'herkne or rede'; and it was

probably written before 1380, at much the same time as the Tale of

Melibeus, which it somewhat resembles in style. It was obvious that, if

this treatise was to be inserted among the Canterbury Tales, it could only

be assigned to the Parson, who is made, accordingly, to warn the company

that he dislikes rime, and can only tell them 'a mery tale in prose'; see I

46. The word _mery_ sometimes meant what we should now call 'interesting';

and it probably interested a much larger number of people in those days

than it can possibly do at the present time. Our ancestors, at times,

certainly inclined to serious discourses, such as the present age has no

relish for.

It is quite clear that a few paragraphs near the end (iv. 644, I

1084-90)--beginning with _and namely_, and ending with _my soule_--were

inserted at a much later time, probably on one of the last occasions when

the poet revised his work. This passage has sometimes been called his

'Retractation'; but this term is a bad one[178]. The phrase used is 'the

whiche I revoke in my _retracciouns_,' i.e. among the things which I

disclaim; and the word _revoke_, i.e. recall, means that he wishes to

disclaim many of his works, as being deficient in such theological merit as

would conduce to the salvation of his soul; a disclaimer which he at once

follows up by thanking 'oure lord and his blisful moder and alle the

seintes,' for such works as were of a moral and meritorious character. This

I believe to be the real meaning, and to refer to the prevalent idea that

many evil deeds and sayings could be out-balanced, even at the last moment,

by an appeal to a few good actions; of which medieval literature affords us

many examples. Perhaps it is fair to add that the poet had good cause to

regret such Tales as those of the Miller, the Reeve, and the Merchant.

In Essays on Chaucer, p. 227, is printed an Essay on this Tale by H. Simon,

of Schmalkalden. The object of the Essay is to prove that Chaucer was a

Wycliffite; and, filled with this idea (the truth of which I am not

particularly careful either to deny or assert), the author endeavours to

shew that the Persones Tale is full of interpolations made by some

designing and fraudulent person. He even goes so far as to give us what he

considers to be 'the original Tale' (p. 283). The French text tends to

upset at least some portions of this superfluous theory, and Dr. Köppel has

written an excellent article[179] to shew--what to a plain person needs but

little proof--that the Persones Tale is to be considered as wholly genuine,

inasmuch as a considerable number of conspicuous passages reappear, in a

slightly modified form, in other parts of the Canterbury Tales. If we are

to go through the Tales, picking out, and setting aside as spurious, every

passage which does not please us, the result can only be unsatisfactory.

Different readers will eliminate different phrases and opinions, and the

residuum will be valueless. I see no reason why we may not be content with

the Tales in the form presented by the best MSS.

POSTSCRIPT.

P. 395.--In a small book by Professor G. Stephens, entitled Förteckning

öfver de fornämsta Brittiska och Fransyska Handskrifterna i Stockholm

(Stockholm, 1847), at p. 20, is a description of a MS. which contains a

copy of Palamon and Arcite in French verse, and was written early in the

fifteenth century. It is remarkable that the metre is the same as that of

the Knightes Tale; from which, perhaps, it was borrowed.

In Anglia, XVI. 261, L. Fränkel, of Munich, reprints a Latin fable by

Casparus Cropacius, which first appeared in 1581, in illustration of the

Milleres Tale. This fable follows Chaucer closely in the principal details,

but omits the humour of the original. I fail to see any merit in this form

of the story, and therefore refrain from reproducing it.

P. 423. See Dr. Jessopp's article on 'William of Norwich' in The Nineteenth

Century, May, 1893.

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FOOTNOTES.

[1] It is also mentioned as 'the book of Fame' at the end of the Persones

Tale, I 1086. I accept this passage as genuine.

[2] In Dante's Inferno, this invocation begins Canto II.; for Canto I.

forms a general introduction to the whole.

[3] Where Chaucer says 'leet the reynes goon' (l. 951), and Dante has

'abbandonò li freni' (Inf. xvii. 107), we find in Ovid 'equi ...

colla iugo eripiunt, abruptaque lora relinquunt' (Met. ii. 315).

Chaucer's words seem closer to Dante than to the Latin original.

[4] On which Prof. Lounsbury remarks (Studies in Chaucer, ii. 243)--'More

extreme indeed than that of any one else is the position of Professor

Skeat. He asserts in all seriousness that the "House of Fame" is the

translation to which reference is made by Lydgate, when he said that

Chaucer wrote "Dante in English." Beyond this utterance it is hardly

possible to go.' This is mere banter, and entirely misrepresents my

view. Lydgate does not say that 'Dant in English' was a translation;

this is a pure assumption, for a strategical purpose in argument.

Lydgate was ignorant of Italian, and has used a stupid phrase, the

correctness of which I by no means admit. But he certainly meant

_something_; and the prominence which he gives to "Dant in English,"

when he comes to speak of Chaucer's Minor Poems, naturally suggests

The House of Fame, which he otherwise omits! My challenge to 'some

competent critic' to tell me what _other_ poem is here referred to,

remains unanswered.

[5] When Chaucer consulted Dante, his thoughts were naturally directed to

Vergil. We find, accordingly, that he begins by quoting (in ll.

143-8) the opening lines of the Æneid; and a large portion of Book I

(ll. 143-467) is entirely taken up with a general sketch of the

contents of that poem. It is clear that, at the time of writing,

Vergil was, in the main, a new book to him, whilst Ovid was certainly

an old acquaintance.

[6] By this, I only mean that Lydgate seems to have been indebted to

Chaucer for the general idea of his poem, and even for the title of

it (cf. Ho. Fame, 120). For a full account of all its sources, see

the admirable edition of Lydgate's Temple of Glas by Dr. J. Schick,

p. cxv. (Early Eng. Text Society).

[7] Misprinted 'bright,' as the final _e_ has 'dropped out' at press; of

course it should be the adverbial form, with final _e_. In l. 507,

the form is 'brighte' again, where it is the plural adjective. And,

owing to this repetition, MSS. F. and B. actually omit lines 504-7.

[8] Morris has _rabewyures_, from MS. F.; but there is no such word in

his Glossary. See the New E. Dictionary, s.v. _Baboon_.

[9] Morris has _Reues_; but his Glossary has: '_Reues_, or _reyes_, sb. a

kind of dance.' Of course it is plural.

[10] Morris has _clywe_; and his Glossary has '_Clywe_, v. to turn or

twist'; but no such verb is known. See _Claw_, v. § 3, in the New E.

Dict.

[11] Morris has _frot_; but it does not appear in the Glossary.

[12] I do not here endorse all Ten Brink's dates. I give his scheme for

what it is worth, as it is certainly deserving of consideration.

[13] It is the stanza next following the last one quoted in vol. i. p. 23.

I quote it from the Aldine edition of Chaucer, ed. Morris, i. 80.

[14] Of course Lydgate knew the work was unfinished; so he offers a

humorous excuse for its incompleteness. I may here note that Hoccleve

refers to the Legend in his poem entitled the Letter of Cupid, where

Cupid is made to speak of 'my Legende of Martres'; see Hoccleve's

Works, ed. Furnivall, p. 85, l. 316.

[15] In December, 1384, Richard II. 'held his Christmas' at Eltham

(Fabyan).

[16] I think lines 568, 569 (added in B.) are meant to refer directly to

ll. 703, 704.

[17] The Knightes Tale is a clear exception. The original Palamon and

Arcite was too good to be wholly lost; but it was entirely recast in

a new metre, and so became quite a new work.

[18] It is amusing to see that Chaucer forgot, at the same time, to alter

A. 422 (= B. 432), in which Alcestis actually tells her name. The

oversight is obvious.

[19] Line A. 277 reappears in the Canterbury Tales in the improved

form--'And ever a _thousand_ gode ageyn oon badde.' This is the 47th

line in the Milleres Prologue, but is omitted in Tyrwhitt's edition,

together with the line that follows it.

[20] I.e. with the exception of the stanzas which were transferred from

that work to the Man of Lawes Prologue and Tale; see the 'Account of

the Sources,' &c. p. 407, and the last note on p. 307 of the present

volume.

[21] I omit 'Marcia Catoun'; like Esther, she is hardly to be ranked with

the heroines of olden fables. Indeed, even Cleopatra comes in rather

strangely.

[22] See De Claris Mulieribus:--Cleopatra, cap. 86. Thisbe, cap. 12. Dido,

cap. 40. Hypsipyle and Medea, capp. 15, 16. Lucretia, cap. 46.

Hypermnestra cap. 13. And see Morley's English Writers, v. 241

(1890).

[23] It will be seen below that Chaucer certainly made use of this work

for the Legend of Hypermnestra; see p. xl.

[24] Court of Love (original edition, 1561), stanzas 15, 16. I substitute

'ninetene' for the 'xix' of the original.

[25] 'The Jesuit Rapin, in his Latin poem entitled "Horti" (Paris, 1666),

tells how a Dalmatian virgin, persecuted by the amorous addresses of

Vertumnus, prayed to the gods for protection, and was transformed

into a tulip. In the same poem, he says that the Bellides (cf.

_bellis_, a daisy), who were once nymphs, are now flowers. The story

[here] quoted [from Henry Phillips] seems to have been fabricated out

of these two passages.'--Athenæum, Sept. 28, 1889.

[26] M. Tarbé shews that the cult of the daisy arose from the frequent

occurrence of the name Marguérite in the royal family of France, from

the time of St. Louis downward. The wife of St. Louis was Marguérite

de Provence, and the same king (as well as Philip III., Philip IV.,

and Philip V.) had a daughter so named.

[27] Chaucer nearly suffered the same fate himself; see Ho. Fame, 586.

[28] Dr. Köppel notes that the name also occurs in Boccaccio's Amorosa

Visione (V. 50) in company with that of Claudian: 'Claudiano, Persio,

ed _Agatone_.'--Anglia, xiv. 237.

[29] He should also have excepted Philomela.

[30] These numbers refer to the lines of the B-text of the Prologue.

[31] Cf. L. G. W. 2177, 2227.

[32] Cf. L. G. W. 1952-8.

[33] Gower is amusing when he turns Ovid's 'Ad uada Maeandri' (Her. vii.

2) into a reference to 'King Menander'!

[34] The unfamiliar form _Guido_ was read as _Ouide_, by changing _G_,

_o_, into _O_, _e_.

[35] Lounsbury (Studies in Chaucer, ii. 259) objects that many scholars

suppose that Valerius Flaccus was unknown previously to 1416. But, if

so, how did Chaucer know that the title of his poem was 'Argonauticon

Libri,' and not 'Argonautae,' as in Dares?

[36] In fact, St. Augustine tells the whole story; De Ciuitate Dei, lib.

i. cap. xix. And it was copied from St. Augustine's version into the

Gesta Romanorum, Tale 135.

[37] For lines 1896-8, Bech refers us to Godfrey of Viterbo's Speculum

Regum; see the extract from it in Pertz, Monumenta Germanica, vol.

xxii. p. 38, l. 159; which tells us that the teaching of philosophy

and of the seven sciences at Athens was introduced there by Jupiter;

see further, at p. lvi.

[38] We must remember that, in olden times, writers often had to trust to

their memory for details not always at hand. Hence such a mistake as

this was easily made.

[39] The reference seems to be to Paulus Orosius, Hist. i. 11; but Belus

is not there mentioned. Yet Hyginus (Fab. 168) has: 'Danaus Beli

filius ex pluribus coniugibus quinquaginta filias habuit.' See

Anglia, v. 350.

[40] People were soon called 'old' in those days. Dante, at 35, was in the

'middle' of life; after which, all was downhill. Hoccleve was

miserably old at 53; Works, ed. Furnivall, p. 119. Jean de Meun, in

his Testament, ed. Méon, iv. 9, even goes so far as to say that man

flourishes up to the age of 30 or 40, after which he 'ne fait que

langorir.' Premature age seems to have been rather common in medieval

times. Moreover, Gower is speaking _comparatively_, as of one no

longer 'in the floures of his youthe.'

[41] Ten Brink, Chaucer's Sprache, &c., p. 174.

[42] The heroic couplet was practically unknown to us till Chaucer

introduced it. The rare examples of it before his time are almost

accidental. A lyrical poem printed in Böddeker's Altenglische

Dichtungen, p. 232, from MS. Harl. 2253, ends with a fair specimen,

and is older than Chaucer. The last two lines are:--

'For loue of vs his wonges waxeþ þunne,

His herte-blod he [gh]ef for al mon-kunne.'

The oldest single line of this form is at the end of Sawles Warde

(ab. A.D. 1210); see Spec. of English, pt. i. p. 95:--

'That ich mot iesu crist mi sawle [gh]elden.'

[43] Not 1491, as Bell says; he has mistaken the line.

[44] From _geten_ to _gayler_; Dr. Furnivall has not got this quite right.

[45] This excellent essay investigates Chaucer's sources, and is the best

commentary upon the present poem. I had written most of my Notes

independently, and had discovered most of his results for myself.

This does not diminish my sense of the thoroughness of the essay, and

I desire to express fully my acknowledgments to this careful student.

I may remark here that Chaucer's obligations to Froissart were long

ago pointed out by Tyrwhitt, and that the name Agatho was explained

in Cary's Dante. There is very little else that Bech has missed.

Perhaps I may put in some claim to the discovery of a sentence taken

from Boethius; and to some other points of minor importance.

[46] I.e. haste, rapidity. Cf. 'Rydynge ful _rapely_;' Piers the Plowman,

B. xvii. 49.

[47] See Part ii. sect. 1, l. 4; sect. 3, l. 11. 'Obviously, nobody

putting a hypothetical case in that way to a child would go out of

his way to name with a past verb [see the second case] a date still

in the future.'--Morley's Eng. Writers, v. 270. Similarly, the

expression 'I wolde knowe,' in the former case, precludes a date in

the _past_; and hence we are driven to conclude that the date refers

to time present. Curiously enough, there is an exactly parallel case.

Blundevill's Description of Blagrave's Astralabe, printed at London

by William Stansby, is undated. Turning to his Proposition VI, p.

615, we find--'As for example, I would know the Meridian Altitude of

the Sun y^e first of July, 1592.' The same date, 1592, is again

mentioned, at pp. 619, 620, 621, 636, and 639, which renders it

probable that the book was printed in that year.

'Neither his _collect_, ne his _expans yeres_,

Ne his _rotes_, ne his othere geres'; F 1275-6.

[49] Not wishing to enforce this view upon every reader, and in order to

save trouble in reference, I have numbered these sections 44 and 45.

But if they belong, as I suppose, to Part iv., they should have been

named 'Part iv. Canon 1,' and 'Part iv. Canon 2' respectively.

[50] 'A smal instrument portatif aboute'; Prol. l. 52 (p. 177).

[51] 'The almikanteras in thyn Astrolabie been compouned by two and two.'

Part ii. sect. 5, l. 1.

[52] Mr. Bradshaw gave me the hint; I afterwards found this remark by

Selden, in his Preface to Drayton's Polyolbion: 'his [Chaucer's]

Treatise of the Astrolabe, which I dare swear was chiefly learned out

of Messahalah.'

[53] Macha-allah or Messahala, an Arabian astronomer, by religion a Jew,

flourished towards the end of the eighth century. Latin translations

of four of his works (_not_ including the Treatise on the Astrolabe)

have been printed, and were published at Nuremberg in 1549. A list of

his works is given in Casiri (Bibl. Arab.-hisp. tom. 1er. pag. 434),

and in the Biographie Universelle.

[54] This splendid MS., of the _thirteenth_ century, is dated 1276, and

illustrated with beautifully executed coloured diagrams. It is a

storehouse of information about the Astrolabe, and I have often

consulted it.

[55] It is printed in full in my edition of Chaucer's Astrolabe, published

for the Early Eng. Text Society in 1872, at pp. 88-104.

[56] In my edition of the 'Astrolabe' for the Early Eng. Text Society

(1872), I have inserted a large number of examples of strange

blunders in the printed editions.

[57] There are two astrolabes in Merton College, besides a plate

exhibiting astronomical tables. These are all described in a paper

entitled 'Remarks on an Astrolabe belonging to F. A. Hyett, Esq.,'

written by my friend Robert Taylor, M.A., and printed in the

Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archæological

Society, vol. xii. Mr. Taylor further describes two Astrolabes in the

British Museum.

[58] This word has several senses in Chaucer. It means (1) the discs of an

astrolabe; (2) a set of tablets; (3) astronomical tables; and (4) the

game of 'tables.'

[59] '_Pertuis_: m. A hole. _Pertuis de l'Araigne_, the centre of an

Astrolabe; the hole wherein all the tables thereof are, by a pin or

naile, joined together.'--Cotgrave's French Dictionary.

[60] As far as I can ascertain.

[61] Here insert--[they mene]--which CP omit.

[62] The words from _euene_ to _climat_ are added at the bottom of the

page in the MS.

[63] Really _ten_; for _rout-e_ is dissyllabic.

[64] _Misprinted_ wo; cf. _two_, l. 2093.

[65] Imitated from Parl. of Foules, 693.

[66] Cf. Book Duch. 1332.

[67] From Parl. of Foules, 696.

[68] There _are_ such accounts; but they are probably copied from Chaucer,

who seems to have invented this transformation himself. See Notes and

Queries, 7 Ser. vi. 186, 309, 372.

[69] Not twentieth; for Legend IV contains two heroines.

[70] The MS. has _shete_, an obvious error for _swete_, the alliteration

being on _sw_. But the editors print _shene_.

[71] Not 'formator,' as in Bell's note; a contraction for 'um' is added.

[72] This is doubtless quoted from some gloss upon Ptolemy, not from the

work itself. The reference is right, for the 'motus celi' are

discussed in the Almagest, lib. i. c. 8.

[73] This star ([alpha] Arietis) was on the supposed horn of the Ram, and

hence its name; since _El-nâtih_ signifies 'the butter,' and

'El-nath' is 'butting' or 'pushing.' See Ideler, Die Bedeutung der

Sternnamen, p. 135.

[74] Well expressed by Dante, Parad, xxx. 38--

'Noi semo usciti fuore

Del maggior _corpo_ al ciel ch'é pura luce.'

Dante, like Chaucer, makes the eighth sphere that of fixed stars, and

the ninth the _primum mobile_ or swiftest heaven (_ciel

velocissimo_); Parad, xxvii. 99.

[75] Here follows a table, shewing that, in _Aries_, the value of _Saturn_

is 5, of _Jupiter_ 5, &c.; with the values of the planets in all the

other signs. The value 5, of Saturn, is obtained by adding a

_triplicite_ (value 3) to a _terme_ (value 2), these being the

'witnesses' of Saturne in Aries; and so on throughout.

[76] So on p. 12 of another tract (D) in the same MS., we find--

'_Aries calidu_m _& sucu_m; _bonu_m.

Nill capiti noceas, Aries cum lu_n_a refulget,

De vena minuas & balnea tuti_us_ intres,

Non tangas Aures, nec barbam radere debes.'

Each of the signs is described in similar triplets, from the grammar

of which I conclude that _Aries_ is here put for _in Ariete_, in the

first hexameter.

[77] 1385 is also the date of the latest allusion in the Canterbury Tales;

see note to B 3589.

[78] King John of France travelled from Canterbury to Dover (16 miles) on

Sunday, July 5, 1360; but he heard mass in the cathedral before

starting.--Temporary Pref. to the Six-text Edition, p. 131.

[79] Tyrwhitt says 'at least one Tale'; but see Prol. 792. The fact is

that Chaucer himself tacitly modified his plan afterwards, and

altered the _two_ tales to _one_; see the Parson's Prologue, I 16-29.

[80] Warton wrongly adds, or the Host. But the Host was the umpire, not a

tale-teller himself.

[81] The term 'link,' and such terms as 'head-link,' 'end-link,' and the

like, are to be found in the Six-text edition published by the

Chaucer Society, whence I have copied them.

[82] In 1749, the coach from Edinburgh to Glasgow, forty-four miles, took

two days for the journey. Twenty miles a day was fast. We may allow

the pilgrims about fifteen miles a day. See Chambers' Book of Days,

ii. 228. Once more, it is absurd to suppose Chaucer capable of

proposing to crowd about sixty tales or so into a single day! A day

of ten hours would, with interruptions, leave each speaker less than

ten minutes apiece. See also Temporary Pref. to the Six-text, p. 119,

shewing that Queen Isabella, in 1358, arrived at Canterbury from

London in three or four days; stopping at Dartford, Rochester, and

Ospringe. From the same, p. 129, we find that King John of France

went from London to Eltham, June 30, 1360 (Tuesday); to Dartford

(Wednesday); to Rochester (Thursday); to Ospringe (Friday); and to

Canterbury (Saturday). Cf. Notes and Queries, 8th S. i. 474, 522.

[83] By 'B 5' I mean Group B, l. 5, as numbered in the Chaucer Society's

Six-text edition; the arrangement of which I have adopted throughout.

[84] See note to l. 8 of the Prologue.

[85] Except as regards convenience of reference. It was Dr. Furnivall who

placed C more forward; nothing is gained by it, and it complicates

references. I heartily wish this had never been done.

[86] Tyrwhitt suggests the same thing, in a note to his Introductory

Discourse.

[87] In the Proem, the Nun calls herself an 'unworthy _son_ of Eve'; G 62.

[88] See the extracts from Chaucer's Book of the Duchess as compared with

some from Machault's Remède de Fortune in Furnivall's Trial

Forewords, p. 47, where he quotes from Étude sur G. Chaucer, by M.

Sandras, p. 290. Or consult the Notes, in vol. i., to the Book of the

Duchesse, ll. 155, 250, 634, 779, 805, 919, 950, 1037.

[89] Observe particularly this rime of _complain_ with _plein_. This shews

whence Chaucer derived such rimes as _seke_, _seke_; Prol. 17, 18.

There is a poem of 92 lines called Le Dit de la Harpe, printed in

Bartsch's Crestomathie Française, p. 408, in which more than half the

rimes are of this character.

[90] It is none too clear who are meant by 'the parson and his companion.'

Perhaps it means the Parson and the Ploughman (his brother).

[91] Observe this substitution of _one_ Tale for _two_, tacitly accepted

by Chaucer's readers as better suiting the circumstances.

[92] This statement, that the Frere was 'a grey frere,' is of some

interest.

[93] See Morley's English Writers, vi. 115-8, where an analysis of the

Tale is given.

[94] I.e. thorpe, village; I quote from the edition of 1561. Broughton is

an error for Boughton.

[95] Ed. 'as ye'; which gives no sense.

[96] For a good account of the Tabard Inn and a discussion of the

pilgrims, see Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, by J. Saunders, ed. 1889.

[97] Compare the articles by Koch and Kölbing, in Englische Studien, i.

249, ii. 528, and in Essays on Chaucer, p. 357.

[98] 'In describing the commencement of this amour, which is to be the

subject of the remainder of the poem, Chaucer has entirely departed

from his author in three principal circumstances, and, I think, in

each with very good reason, (1) By supposing Emilia to be seen first

by Palamon, he gives him an advantage over his rival which makes the

catastrophe more consonant to poetical justice. (2) The picture which

Boccaccio has exhibited of two young princes violently enamoured of

the same object, without jealousy or rivalship, if not absolutely

unnatural, is certainly very insipid and unpoetical. (3) As no

consequence is to follow from their being seen by Emilia at this

time, it is better, I think, to suppose, as Chaucer has done, that

they are not seen by her.'--Tyrwhitt.

[99] The same story has been imitated in the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, and

in the Berceau of Lafontaine (Morley).

[100] I.e. Abington, seven miles to the S.E. of Cambridge, and nearly as

far from Trumpington. In one way, it suits better; Trumpington is too

near Cambridge for the clerks to have been benighted there.

[101] For an analysis of the Tale, see Morley, Eng. Writers, v. 321.

[102] _Se-ïnt_ seems to have been occasionally dissyllabic, as in Chaucer's

Prologue, A 697.

[103] This may be true of some of the traditions embodied in the story; but

as we have it, the date is much later.

[104] Or of the fourteenth century; they did not much vary.

[105] Reprinted in Chalmers' English Poets, i. 607 (1810).

[106] The objection is made that _all_ people 'speak in prose'; but I think

Chaucer refers to something more rhetorical than ordinary

conversation.

[107] All adapted from his early work, Of the Wretched Engendering of

Mankinde; see p. 407. The four stanzas are: B 421-7, 771-7, 925-31,

and 1135-41.

[108] Chaucer is, in fact, alluding to Trivet.

[109] In Anglia, xiv. 77-122, 147-185.

[110] I sometimes copy Mr. Brock's very words.

[111] The Dominican friars were also called _Friars Preachers_.

[112] Reprinted for the Early Eng. Text Soc., ed. S. J. Herrtage, 1879; see

pp. 311, 493 of this edition.

[113] Warton gives the reference, viz. to his Speculum Historiale, lib.

vii. c. 90, fol. 86 a.

[114] I.e. it is the sole authority for placing both the Shipman's Prologue

and his Tale precisely here. At the same time, at least seventeen

other MSS. make the Shipman's Prologue follow the Man of Law's Tale;

only they turn it into a Prologue for the Sompnour or Squire.

[115] The Monk's cell is mentioned in the Prologue, l. 172; Chaucer's was

his 'celle fantastyk'; Kn. Ta. 518 (A 1376).

[116] I put (_e_) not (_b_), in order to show the _chronological_ order,

which is that of the letters, _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_, _e_, _f_.

[117] The group (_f_) has nothing to do with (_e_); as will appear.

[118] I say 'recollections' advisedly; see note to B 3293. The mistake of

confusing 'Busirus' with Diomedes, king of Thrace, suggests that

Chaucer had not as yet written out his translation of Boethius, but

had read it hastily. In other words, part of the Monkes Tale must be

earlier than 1380.

[119] Printed 'Chauncer' in the old edition which I here follow.

[120] Ed. 1532, alther; Edd. 1550, 1561, _all ther_; Morris corrects to _a

lither_.

[121] Compare C 1.

[122] C 164.

[123] C 165-170; 178-189.

[124] C 154.

[125] C 142.

[126] C. 192-9.

[127] C 203-206.

[128] C 254-276.

[129] A remarkable coincidence with the language of St. Paul in 1 Tim. vi.

10.

[130] But this passage still more resembles Jerome against Jovinian; see

note to the line.

[131] Cf. Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, ii. 292.

[132] I.e. the first edition of Gower's poem certainly preceded the Wife's

Tale, though the second edition did not appear till 1393.

[133] Lat. 'nepos'; but later on, Claudius is called his _eme_, i.e. uncle.

[134] To which it is not unusual to object, by insisting that it was not

Chaucer himself who met Petrarch, but the Clerk who tells the tale. I

doubt if this amounts to more than a quibble. There is nothing out of

place in Chaucer's reference to an incident in his own life, inasmuch

as he was a clerk himself, in the sense of being a student.

Otherwise, we have to explain how the poor clerk raised the money to

pay for this long journey; how it came to pass that _he_ met

Petrarch, and _when_; and how he acquired a copy of Petrarch's tale.

[135] See E 27, 40.

[136] See E 1147--'Petrark _wryteth_.' And yet Warton could imagine that

Chaucer did not use a copy of Petrarch's version, but only wrote from

recollection of what he had heard! If we enquire, how did Chaucer

obtain this version, no answer is so likely as the supposition that

Petrarch gave it him at parting. It is difficult to see how he could

have got it otherwise.

[137] The words 'He is _now_ deed,' in E 29, suggest that Petrarch was

still living when Chaucer first wrote the Tale.

'There was also Grisildis innocence,

And al hir mekenes and hir pacience.'

Lydgate, Temple of Glas, ed. Schick, l. 75.

[139] It occurs also in the black-letter editions, and in MSS. Harl. 1758

and 7333, Barlow 20, and Royal 18 C. ii; as well as in E., Hn., Cm.,

and Dd. Several MSS. follow it up by various scraps, taken from E.

2419-40 and F 1-8, with the false substitution of _Sire Frankeleyn_

for _Squier_ in F 1, which makes the line too long. See Part I of the

Six-text edition, pp. xvii*-xx*.

[140] Chaucer und Albertanus Brixiensis; in Archiv für das Studium der

neueren Sprachen; vol. 86, p. 29.

[141] To which are appended fables by Avian (leaf 106); by Alfonce (leaf

120, back); and by Poge the Florentyn (leaf 134).

[142] The 'reasons' are not recondite; for fifteen MSS., at the least, have

this arrangement.

[143] Tyrwhitt is quite right; he is alluding to the true Shipman's

Prologue; B 1163-90.

[144] Only a few hours after writing this sentence, I found that Mr.

Keightley, in his Tales and Popular Fictions, published in 1834, at

p. 76, distinctly derives Chaucer's Tale from the travels of Marco

Polo. I let the sentence stand, however, as an example of undesigned

coincidence.

[145] So in Mr. Hazlitt's edition; Warton originally wrote--'to believe

this story to be one of the many fables which the Arabians imported

into Europe.'

[146] 'All things can be known by Perspective, because all operations of

things take place according to the multiplication of forms and

forces, by means of this world's agents, upon yielding

materials.'--Opus Minus (see Warton).

[147] 'That sword, wrought with such art, that it cuts through enchantment

and every charm.' I correct the errors in these quotations.

[148] 'Enchantment avails not, where it inflicts a cut.'

[149] 'O splendid falsehood, when is truth so beautiful that one can prefer

her to thee?' In Warton's book, the Italian quotations abound in

misprints, not all of which are removed in Hazlitt's edition. I

cannot construe '_al_ vero,' as there printed.

[150] I would ask the reader to observe that the seven best MSS. all have

the spelling _Cambynskan_ or _Kambynskan_. The form _Cambuscan_ (in

Milton, Il Pens. 110) is found in the old black-letter editions. It

is strange that Milton should accent the wrong syllable. _Cambynskan_

arose from reading _Camiuscan_ as _Caminskan_.

[151] I find that Mr. Keightley has already suggested this.

[152] Evidently Shangtu, Coleridge's Xanadu. See his well-known lines--'In

Xanadu did Kubla Khan,' &c.

[153] This is Chaucer's 'Sarra'; see note to F 9.

[154] Mr. Keightley shews, in his Tales and Popular Fictions, p. 75, that

Cervantes has confused two stories, (1) that of a prince carrying off

a princess on a wooden horse; and (2) that of Peter of Provence

running away with the fair Magalona.

[155] See Arber's reprint, p. 85, where 'the hors of tree' [i.e. wood],

ridden by 'Cleomedes the kynges sone,' is expressly mentioned, and is

said to be 'torned' by 'a pynne that stode on his brest.'

[156] This magic ring is likewise referred to in chap. 32 of Caxton's

Reynard the Fox. It had 'thre hebrews names therin,' and it contained

'a stone of thre maner colours.' The same chapter mentions the magic

mirror.

[157] A friend of Milton's father; see Masson, Life of Milton, i. 42.

[158] Printed at Brussels, 1865; ed. A. van Hasselt.

[159] I take the liberty of abridging the story by omitting several

details.

[160] It had previously appeared in the fifth book of his Philocopo, a

juvenile work.

[161] But Dr. Köppel argues that the date must be several years later. See

his article in Anglia, xiv. 227; and observe Chaucer's use of Dante,

Par. xxxiii. 1-21, in ll. 36-56, which may, however, be due to the

insertion of ll. 36-56 at a later time. His argument that the Lyf of

Seint Cecyle was written _after_ Troilus, because it contains neither

_forthy_ nor _forwhy_, seems to me entirely valueless. The whole Tale

only contains 553 lines, whereas we find in Troilus 777 consecutive

lines in which neither word occurs, viz. in V. 351-1127.

[162] In l. 32, we have 'Thou comfort of us wrecches,' and in l. 58, 'Me

flemed wrecche.' I suspect that these lines were, in the original

draught, not far apart. l. 57 would follow l. 35 very suitably.

[163] Compare the section in the Acta Sanctorum, April 14, p. 209, headed:

'Nova corporum inventio sub Clemente VIII, A.D. MDXCIX.'

[164] See my note to l. 134 of the Tale.

[165] Tyrwhitt further explains that a poem in Ashmole's volume, called

Hermes Bird, and by him attributed to Raymund Lully, is really a poem

of Lydgate's, printed by Caxton with the title The Chorle and the

Bird.

[166] It is a totally different work from the Latin collection of

alchemical works, also called Theatrum Chemicum, so often cited in my

notes.

[167] At p. 470, Ashmole gives a brief account of Chaucer, made up from

Speght, Bale, Pits, and others, of no particular value. At p. 226, he

gives an engraving of the marble monument erected to Chaucer's memory

in Westminster Abbey, by Nicholas Brigham, A.D. 1556.

[168] This is somewhat amusing. Charnock describes his numerous

misadventures, and it is not clear that he preserved his faith in

alchemy unshaken.

[169] Thomson's Hist. Chemistry, i. 25.

[170] '_Sir To._ What shall we do else? Were we not born under Taurus? _Sir

And._ Taurus! that's sides and heart. _Sir To._ No, sir; it's legs

and thighs.' Both are wrong, of course, as Shakespeare knew. Chaucer

says--'Aries hath thin heved [head], and Taurus _thy nekke and thy

throte_;' Astrolabe, pt. i. sec. 21. l. 52.

[171] See Browning's drama entitled 'Paracelsus.'

[172] It is useless to try and discover an etymology for this word. It was

invented wittingly. The most that can be said was that Van Helmont

may have been thinking of the Dutch _geest_, a spirit; E. _ghost_.

[173] This seems to us a strange selection; red, green, and violet would

have been better. But this scale of colours is due to Aristotle, De

Sensu, ii.; cf. Bartholomeus, De Proprietatibus Rerum, bk. xix. c. 7.

[174] The Indian god Siva, was actually worshipped _under the form of

quicksilver_. Professor Cowell refers me to Marco Polo, ed. Yule, ii.

300, and to his own edition of Colebrooke's Essays, i. 433; also to

the semi-mythic life of Sankara Áchárya, the great reformer of the

eighth century.

[175] This explains why the alchemists, in seeking gold, sometimes supposed

that they had obtained silver.

[176] Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, ed. L. Herrig; vol. 86,

p. 44.

[177] MS. Douce 162 has a copy of the treatise in Provençal.

[178] Urry, the worst of editors, originated it.

[179] Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, ed. L. Herrig, vol. 87,

p. 33.