1. The Squire’s Tale has not been found under any other form
among the literary remains of the Middle Ages; and it is
unknown from what original it was derived, if from any. The
Tale is unfinished, not because the conclusion has been lost, but
because the author left it so.
2. The Russians and Tartars waged constant hostilities between
the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries.
3. In the best manuscripts the name is “Cambynskan,” and thus,
no doubt, it should strictly be read. But it is a most pardonable
offence against literal accuracy to use the word which Milton
has made classical, in “Il Penseroso,” speaking of
“him that left half-told
The story of Cambuscan bold,
Of Camball, and of Algarsife,
And who had Canace to wife,
That owned the virtuous Ring and Glass,
And of the wondrous Horse of Brass,
On which the Tartar King did ride”
Surely the admiration of Milton might well seem to the spirit of
Chaucer to condone a much greater transgression on his domain
than this verbal change — which to both eye and ear is an
unquestionable improvement on the uncouth original.
4. Couth his colours longing for that art: well skilled in using
the colours — the word-painting — belonging to his art.
5. Aries was the mansion of Mars — to whom “his” applies.
Leo was the mansion of the Sun.
6. Sewes: Dishes, or soups. The precise force of the word is
uncertain; but it may be connected with “seethe,” to boil, and it
seems to describe a dish in which the flesh was served up amid a
kind of broth or gravy. The “sewer,” taster or assayer of the
viands served at great tables, probably derived his name from
the verb to “say” or “assay;” though Tyrwhitt would connect
the two words, by taking both from the French, “asseoir,” to
place — making the arrangement of the table the leading duty of
the “sewer,” rather than the testing of the food.