'The reader will observe the life and spirit which the personification of
the several trees gives to this catalogue. It is common in French, even in
prose; as, for instance, the weeping willow is _le saule pleureur_, the
weeper willow. The oak is called _builder_, because no other wood was used
in building in this country in the middle ages, as may be seen in our old
churches and farm-houses, in which the stairs are often made of solid
blocks of the finest oak.'--Bell.
177. 'The elm is called _piler_, perhaps because it is planted as a pillar
of support to the vine [cf. Spenser's 'vine-prop elme']; and _cofre unto
careyne_ because coffins for carrion or corpses were [and are] usually made
of elm.'--Bell. In fact, Ovid has 'amictae uitibus ulmi,' Met. x. 100;
Claudian has 'pampinus induit ulmos'; and Boccaccio--'E _l'olmo_, che di
viti s'innamora'; Tes. xi. 24.
178. _Piper_, suitable for pipes or horns. 'The box, being a hard,
fine-grained wood, was used for making pipes or horns, as in the Nonne
Prestes Tale, B 4588--"Of bras they broghten bemes [trumpets] and of
box."'--Bell. Boxwood is still used for flutes and flageolets.
_Holm to whippes lasshe_; 'the holm used for making handles for
whip-lashes.'--Bell. Spenser calls it 'The carver holm,' i. e. the holm
suitable for carving. It is the holly (A. S. _holegn_), not the holm-oak.
179. _The sayling firr_; this 'alludes to the ship's masts and spars being
made of fir.'--Bell. 'Apta fretis abies'; Claudian, De Raptu Proserpinae,
ii. 107. Spenser substitutes for it 'The sailing pine.' _The cipres_;
'tumulos tectura cupressus,' in Claudian.
180. _The sheter ew._ 'The material of our [ancient] national weapon, the
bow, was yew. It is said that the old yews which are found in country
churchyards were planted in order to supply the yeomanry with bows.'--Bell.
Spenser has--'The eugh, obedient to the benders will.'
'_The asp_ is the aspen, or black poplar, of which shafts or arrows were
made.'--Bell. Spenser has--'The aspine good for staves'; and 'The birch for
shaftes.' See Ascham's Toxophilus, ed. Arber, p. 126.
181. The olive is the emblem of peace; and the palm, of victory. Boccaccio
has--'e d'ogni vincitore Premio la palma'; Tes. xi. 24; from
Ovid--'uictoris praemia palmae'; Met. x. 102.
182. 'The laurel (used) for divination,' or 'to divine with.' 'Venturi
praescia laurus'; Claudian, de Raptu Proserpinae, ii. 109. It was 'sacred
to Apollo; and its branches were the decoration of poets, and of the
flamens. The leaves, when eaten, were said to impart the power of
prophesying; Tibull. 2. 5. 63; Juvenal, 7. 19.'--Lewis and Short's Lat.
Dict., s.v. _laurus_.
183. In a note to Cant. Tales, l. 1920, Tyrwhitt says--'Chaucer has [here]
taken very little from Boccace, as he had already inserted a very close
imitation of this part of the Teseide in his Assemblee of Foules, from
verse 183 to verse 287.' In fact, eleven stanzas (183-259) correspond to
Boccaccio's Teseide, Canto vii. st. 51-60; the next three stanzas (260-280)
to the same, st. 63-66; and the next two (281-294) to the same, st. 61, 62.
See the whole extract from Boccaccio, given and translated in the
Introduction; see p. 68, above.
On the other hand, this passage in Chaucer is imitated in the Kingis Quair,
st. 31-33, 152, 153; and ll. 680-9 are imitated in the same, st. 34.
The phrase 'blosmy bowes' occurs again in Troilus, ii. 821.