122. _Grene stone_, mossy or moss-covered stone; an expression copied by
Lydgate, Complaint of the Black Knight, l. 42.
Prof. Hales, in the Gent. Magazine, April, 1882, has an interesting article
on 'Chaucer at Woodstock.' He shews that there was a park there, surrounded
by a stone wall; and that Edward III. often resided at Woodstock, where the
Black Prince was born. It is possible that Chaucer was thinking of
Woodstock when writing the present passage. See the account of Woodstock
Palace in Abbeys, Castles, &c. by J. Timbs; vol. ii. But Dr. Köppel has
shewn (Anglia, xiv. 234) that Chaucer here partly follows Boccaccio's poem,
Amorosa Visione, ii. 1-35, where we find 'un muro antico.' So also the
Roman de la Rose has an allusion to Scipio's dream, and the following lines
(129-131, p. 99, above):--
'Quant j'oi ung poi avant alé
Si vi ung _vergier_ grant et lé,
Tot clos d'ung _haut mur_ bataillié;' &c.