298. This _quene_ is the goddess Nature (l. 303). We now come to a part of
the poem where Chaucer makes considerable use of the work which he mentions
in l. 316, viz. the Planctus Naturæ (Complaint of Nature) by Alanus de
Insulis, or Alein Delille, a poet and divine of the 12th century. This work
is printed in vol. ii. of T. Wright's edition of the Anglo-Latin Satirical
Poets (Record Series), which also contains the poem called Anticlaudianus,
by the same author. The description of the goddess is given at great length
(pp. 431-456), and at last she declares her name to be _Natura_ (p. 456).
This long description of Nature and of her vesture is a very singular one;
indeed, all the fowls of the air are supposed to be depicted upon her
wonderful garments (p. 437). Chaucer substitutes a brief description of his
own, and represents the birds as real live ones, gathering around her;
which is much more sensible. For the extracts from Alanus, see the
Introduction, p. 74. As Prof. Morley says (Eng. Writers, v. 162)--'Alain
describes Nature's changing robe as being in one of its forms so ethereal
that it is like air, and the pictures on it seem to the eye a Council of
Animals (_Animalium Concilium_). Upon which, beginning, as Chaucer does,
with the Eagle and the Falcon, Alain proceeds with a long list of the birds
painted on her transparent robe, that surround Nature as in a council, and
attaches to each bird the most remarkable point in its character.'
Professor Hales, in The Academy, Nov. 19, 1881, quoted the passages from
Alanus which are here more or less imitated, and drew attention to the
remarkable passage in Spenser's F. Q. bk. vii. c. 7. st. 5-10, where that
poet quotes and copies Chaucer. Dunbar imitates Chaucer in his Thrissill
and Rois, and describes Dame Nature as surrounded by beasts, birds, and
flowers; see stanzas 10, 11, 18, 26, 27 of that poem.
The phrase 'Nature la déesse' occurs in Le Roman de la Rose, l. 16480.
309. Birds were supposed to choose their mates on St. Valentine's day (Feb.
14); and lovers thought they must follow their example, and then 'choose
their loves.' Mr. Douce thinks the custom of choosing valentines was a
survival from the Roman feast of the Lupercalia. See the articles in Brand,
Pop. Antiq. i. 53; Chambers, Book of Days, i. 255; Alban Butler, Lives of
Saints, Feb. 14; &c. The custom is alluded to by Lydgate, Shakespeare,
Herrick, Pepys, and Gay; and in the Paston Letters, ed. Gairdner, iii. 169,
is a letter written in Feb. 1477, where we find: 'And, cosyn, uppon Fryday
is Sent Volentynes Day, and every brydde chesyth hym a make.' See also the
Cuckoo and Nyghtingale, l. 80.
316. _Aleyn_, Alanus de Insulis; _Pleynt of Kynde_, Complaint of Nature,
Lat. Planctus Naturæ; see note to l. 298. Chaucer refers us to Aleyn's
description on account of its unmerciful length; it was hopeless to attempt
even an epitome of it. Lydgate copies this passage; see Political,
Religious and Love Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 45, l. 17; or his Minor Poems,
ed. Halliwell, p. 47.
323. _Foules of ravyne_, birds of prey. Chaucer's division of birds into
birds of prey, birds that eat worms and insects, water-fowl, and birds that
eat seeds, can hardly be his own. In Vincent of Beauvais, lib. xvi. c. 14,
Aristotle is cited as to the food of birds:--'quædam comedunt _carnem_,
quædam _grana_, quædam utrumque; ... quædam vero comedunt _vermes_, vt
passer.... Vivunt et _ex fructu_ quædam aues, vt palumbi, et turtures.
Quædam viuunt in ripis _aquarum lacuum_, et cibantur ex eis.'
330. _Royal_; because he is often called the king of birds, as in Dunbar's
Thrissill and Rois, st. 18. Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. Nat., lib. xvi. c.
32, quotes from Iorath (_sic_):--'Aquila est auis magna _regalis_.' And
Philip de Thaun, Bestiary, 991 (in Wright's Pop. Treatises, p. 109)
says:--'Egle est rei de oisel.... En Latine raisun _clerveant_ le apellum,
Ke le solail verat quant il plus cler serat.'
331. See the last note, where we learn that the eagle is called in Latin
'clear-seeing,' because 'he will look at the sun when it will be
brightest.' This is explained at once by the remarkable etymology given by
Isidore (cited by Vincent, as above), viz.:--'_Aqu_-ila ab _ac_umine
oculorum vocata est.'
332. Pliny, Nat. Hist. bk. x. c. 3, enumerates six kinds of eagles, which
Chaucer leaves us to find out; viz. Melænaetos, Pygargus, Morphnos, which
Homer (Il. xxiv. 316) calls _perknos_, Percnopterus, Gnesios (the true or
royal eagle), and Haliæetos (osprey). This explains the allusion in l. 333.
334. _Tyraunt._ This epithet was probably suggested by the original text in
Alanus, viz.--'Illic ancipiter [accipiter], civitatis præfectus aeriæ,
violenta _tyrannide_ a subditis redditus exposcebat.' Sir Thopas had a
'grey goshauk'; C. T., Group B, 1928.
337. See note on the _faucon peregrin_, Squi. Tale, 420 (F 428).
'Beautifully described as "distreining" the king's hand with its foot,
because carried by persons of the highest rank'; Bell. Read, 'with 's
feet.'
339. _Merlion_, merlin. 'The merlin is the smallest of the long-winged
hawks, and was generally carried by ladies'; Bell.
342. From Alanus (see p. 74):--'Illic olor, sui funeris præco, mellitæ
citherizationis organo vitæ prophetabat apocopam.' The same idea is
mentioned by Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. Nat. lib. xvi. c. 50; Pliny says he
believes the story to be false, Nat. Hist. lib. x. c. 23. See Compl. of
Anelida, l. 346. 'The wild swan's death-hymn'; Tennyson, The Dying Swan.
Cf. Ovid, Heroid. vii. 2.
343. From Alanus:--'Illic bubo, propheta miseriæ, psalmodias funereæ
lamentationis præcinebat.' So in the Rom. de la Rose, 5999:--
'Li chahuan ...
Prophetes de male aventure,
Hideus messagier de dolor.'
Cf. Vergil, Æn. iv. 462; Ovid, Metam. v. 550, whence Chaucer's allusion in
Troilus, v. 319; Shakespeare, Mid. Nt. D. v. 385.
344. _Geaunt_, giant. Alanus has:--'grus ... in _giganteæ_ quantitatis
evadebat excessum.' Vincent (lib. xvi. c. 91) quotes from Isidore:--'Grues
nomen de propria voce sumpserunt, tali enim sono susurrant.'
345. 'The chough, who is a thief.' From Alanus, who has:--'Illic monedula,
_latrocinio_ laudabili reculas thesaurizans, innatæ avaritiæ argumenta
monstrabat.' 'It was an old belief in Cornwall, according to Camden
(Britannia, tr. by Holland, 1610, p. 189) that the chough was an
incendiary, "and thievish besides; for oftentimes it secretly conveieth
fire-sticks, setting their houses a-fire, and as closely filcheth and
hideth little pieces of money."'--Prov. Names of Brit. Birds, by C.
Swainson, p. 75. So also in Pliny, lib. x. c. 29, choughs are called
thieves. Vincent of Beauvais quotes one of Isidore's delicious
etymologies:--'Monedula dicitur quasi _mone-tula_, quæ cum aurum inuenit
aufert et occultat'; i. e. from _monetam tollere_. 'The Jackdaw tribe is
notoriously given to pilfering'; Stanley, Hist. of Birds, ed. 1880, p. 203.
_Iangling_, talkative; so Alanus:--'Illic pica... curam _logices_
perennabat insomnem.' So in Vincent--'pica loquax'--'pica garrula,' &c.;
and in Pliny, lib. x. c. 42.
346. _Scorning_, 'applied to the jay, probably, because it follows and
seems to mock at the owl, whenever the latter is so unfortunate as to be
caught abroad in the daylight; for this reason, a trap for jays is always
baited with a live owl'; Bell.
'The _heron_ will stand for hours in the shallow water watching for eels';
Bell. Vincent quotes from Isidore:--'Ciconeæ ... serpentium hostes.' So
also A. Neckam, De Naturis Rerum, lib. i. c. 64:--'Ranarum et locustarum et
serpentum hostis est.'
347. _Trecherye_, trickery, deceit. 'During the season of incubation, the
cock-bird tries to draw pursuers from the nest by wheeling round them,
crying and screaming, to divert their attention ... while the female sits
close on the nest till disturbed, when she runs off, feigning lameness, or
flaps about near the ground, as if she had a broken wing; cf. Com. Errors,
iv. 2. 27; Much Ado, iii. 1. 24;' Prov. Names of Brit. Birds, by C.
Swainson, p. 185. And cf. 'to seem the _lapwing_ and to jest, Tongue far
from heart'; Meas. for Meas. i. 4. 32.
348. _Stare_, starling. As the starling can speak, there is probably 'an
allusion to some popular story like the Manciple's Tale, in which a talking
starling betrays a secret'; Bell. The same story is in Ovid, Metam. bk. ii.
535; and in Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. iii. 'Germanicus and Drusus had one
_stare_, and sundry nightingales, taught to parle Greeke and Latine';
Holland's Pliny, bk. x. c. 42. In the Seven Sages, ed. Weber, p. 86, the
bird who 'bewrays counsel' is a magpie.
349. _Coward kyte._ See Squi. Tale, F 624; and note. 'Miluus ... fugatur a
niso, quamuis in triplo sit maior illo'; Vincent of Beauvais, lib. xvi. c.
108. 'A kite is ... a coward, and fearefull among great birds'; Batman on
Bartholomè, lib. xii. c. 26.
350. Alanus has:--'Illic gallus, tanquam vulgaris astrologus, suæ vocis
_horologio_ horarum loquebatur discrimina.' Cf. Nonne Prestes Tale, B 4044.
We also see whence Chaucer derived his epithet of the cock--'common
astrologer'--in Troilus, iii. 1415. Tusser, in his Husbandry, ed. Payne, §
74, says the cock crows--'At midnight, at three, and an hower ere day.'
Hence the expressions 'first cock' in K. Lear, iii. 4. 121, and 'second
cock' in Macbeth, ii. 3. 27.
351. The sparrow was sacred to Venus, from its amatory disposition (Meas.
for Meas. iii. 2. 185). In the well-known song from Lyly's Alexander and
Campaspe, Cupid 'stakes his quiver, bow, and arrows, His Mother's _doves_,
and team of _sparrows_; 'Songs from the Dramatists, ed. R. Bell, p. 50.
352. Cf. Holland's Pliny, bk. x. c. 29--'The nightingale ... chaunteth
continually, namely, at that time as the trees begin to put out their
leaues thicke.'
353. 'Nocet autem apibus sola inter animalia carnem habentia et carnem
comedentia'; Vincent of Beauvais, De hyrundine; Spec. Nat. lib. xvi. c. 17.
'Culicum et muscarum et apecularum infestatrix'; A. Neckam, De Naturis
Rerum (De Hirundine), lib. i. c. 52. 'Swallowes make foule worke among
them,' &c.; Holland's Pliny, bk. xi. c. 18. Cf. Vergil, Georg. iv. 15; and
Tennyson, The Poet's Song, l. 9.
_Flyes_, i. e. bees. This, the right reading (see footnote), occurs in two
MSS. only; the scribes altered it to _foules_ or _briddes_!
355. Alanus has:--'Illic turtur, suo viduata consorte, amorem epilogare
dedignans, in altero bigamiæ refutabat solatia.' 'Etiam vulgo est notum
turturem et amoris veri prærogativa nobilitari et castitatis titulis
donari'; A. Neckam, i. 59. Cf. An Old Eng. Miscellany, ed. Morris, p. 22.
356. 'In many medieval paintings, the feathers of angels' wings are
represented as those of peacocks'; Bell. Cf. Dunbar, ed. Small, 174. 14:
'Qhois angell fedderis as the pacok schone.'
357. Perhaps Chaucer mixed up the description of the pheasant in Alanus
with that of the 'gallus silvestris, privatioris galli _deridens_
desidiam,' which occurs almost immediately below. Vincent (lib. xvi. c. 72)
says:--'Fasianus est gallus syluaticus.' Or he may allude to the fact,
vouched for in Stanley's Hist. of Birds, ed. 1880, p. 279, that the
Pheasant will breed with the common Hen.
358. 'The Goose likewise is very vigilant and watchfull: witnesse the
Capitoll of Rome, which by the means of Geese was defended and saued';
Holland's Pliny, bk. x. c. 22.
'There is no noise at all
Of waking dog, nor gaggling goose more _waker_ then the hound.'
Golding, tr. of Ovid's Metam. bk. xi. fol. 139, back.
_Unkinde_, unnatural; because of its behaviour to the hedge-sparrow; K.
Lear, i. 4. 235.
359. _Delicasye_, wantonness. 'Auis est luxuriosa nimium, bibitque vinum';
Vincent (quoting from Liber de Naturis Rerum), lib. xvi. c. 135, De
Psittaco; and again (quoting from Physiologus)--'cum vino inebriatur.' So
in Holland's Pliny, bk. x. c. 42--'She loueth wine well, and when shee hath
drunk freely, is very pleasant, plaifull, and wanton.'
360. 'The farmers' wives find the drake or mallard the greatest enemy of
their young ducks, whole broods of which he will destroy unless
removed.'--Bell. Chaucer perhaps follows the Liber de Naturis Rerum, as
quoted in Vincent, lib. xvi. c. 27 (De Anate):--'Mares aliquando cum plures
fuerint simul, tanta libidinis insania feruntur, vt foeminam solam ...
occidant.'
361. From A. Neckam, Liber de Naturis Rerum (ed. Wright, lib. i. c. 64);
cited in Vincent, lib. xvi. c. 48. The story is, that a male stork, having
discovered that the female was unfaithful to him, went away; and presently
returning with a great many other storks, the avengers tore the criminal to
pieces. Another very different story may also be cited. 'The stork is the
Embleme of a grateful Man. In which respect Ælian writeth of a storke,
which bred on the house of one who had a very beautiful wife, which in her
husband's absence used to commit adultry with one of her base servants:
which the storke observing, in gratitude to him who freely gave him
house-roome, flying in the villaines face, strucke out both his
eyes.'--Guillim, Display of Heraldry, sect. iii. c. 19.
In Thynne's Animadversions on Speght's Chaucer, ed. Furnivall, p. 68 (Chau.
Soc.), we find:--'for Aristotle sayethe, and Bartholomeus de proprietatibus
rerum, li. 12. c. 8, with manye other auctors, that yf the storke by any
meanes perceve that his female hath brooked spousehedde, he will no moore
dwell with her, but strykethe and so cruelly beateth her, that he will not
surcease vntill he hathe killed her yf he maye, to wreake and reuenge that
adulterye.' Cf. Batman vppon Bartholome, ed. 1582, leaf 181, col. 2;
Stanley, Hist, of Birds, 6th ed. p. 322; and story no. 82 in Swan's
translation of the Gesta Romanorum. Many other references are given in
Oesterley's notes to the Gesta; and see the Exempla of Jacques de Vitry,
ed. Crane (Folklore Soc.), 1890, p. 230. Cf. Skelton's Phyllyp Sparowe,
469-477.
362. 'The voracity of the cormorant has become so proverbial, that a greedy
and voracious eater is often compared to this bird'; Swainson, Prov. Names
of British Birds, p. 143. See Rich. II, ii. 1. 38.
363. _Wys_; because it could predict; it was therefore consecrated to
Apollo; see Lewis and Short, s. v. _corvus_. _Care_, anxiety; hence, ill
luck. 'In folk-lore the crow always appears as a bird of the worst and most
sinister character, representing either death, or night, or winter'; Prov.
Names of British Birds, by C. Swainson, p. 84; which see.
Chaucer here mistranslates Vergil precisely as Batman does (l. xii. c. 9).
'Nunc plena cornix pluuiam uocat improba uoce'; Georg. i. 388. 'That is to
vnderstande, Nowe the Crowe calleth rayne _with an eleinge voyce_'; Batman
vppon Bartholome, as above.
364. _Olde._ I do not understand this epithet; it is usually the crow who
is credited with a long life. _Frosty_; i. e. that is seen in England in
the winter-time; called in Shropshire the _snow-bird_; Swainson's Prov.
Names of Brit. Birds, p. 6. The explanation of the phrase 'farewell
feldefare,' occurring in Troil. iii. 861 and in Rom. Rose, 5510, and marked
by Tyrwhitt as not understood, is easy enough. It simply means--'good bye,
and we are well rid of you'; when the fieldfare goes, the warm weather
comes.
371. _Formel_, perhaps 'regular' or 'suitable' companion; as F. _formel_
answers to Lat. _formalis_. Tyrwhitt's Gloss. says: '_formel_ is put for
the _female_ of any fowl, more especially for a female eagle (ll. 445, 535
below).' It has, however, no connection with _female_ (as he seems to
suppose), but answers rather, in sense, to _make_, i. e. match, fit
companion. Godefroy cites the expression 'faucon _formel_' from
L'Aviculaire des Oiseaux de proie (MS. Lyon 697, fol. 221 _a_). He explains
it by 'qui a d'amples formes,' meaning (as I suppose) simply 'large'; which
does not seem to be right; though the _tercel_ or male hawk was so called
because he was a third less than the female. Ducange gives _formelus_, and
thinks it means 'well trained.'
379. _Vicaire_, deputy. This term is taken from Alanus, De Planctu Naturæ,
as above, where it occurs at least _thrice_. Thus, at p. 469 of Wright's
edition, Nature says:--'Me igitur tanquam sui [Dei] _vicariam_'; at p.
511--'Natura, Dei gratia mundanæ civitatis _vicaria procuratrix_'; and at
p. 516, Nature is addressed as--'O supracælestis Principis fidelis
_vicaria_!' M. Sandras supposes that Chaucer took the term from the Rom. de
la Rose, but it is more likely that Chaucer and Jean de Meun alike took it
from Alanus.
'Cis Diex meismes, par sa grace,...
Tant m'ennora, tant me tint chiere,
Qu'il m'establi sa chamberiere ...
Por chamberiere! certes vaire,
Por connestable, et por _vicaire_', &c.
Rom. de la Rose, 16970, &c.
Here Nature is supposed to be the speaker. Chaucer again uses _vicaire_ of
Nature, Phis. Tale, D 20, which see; and he applies it to the Virgin Mary
in his A B C, l. 140. See also Lydgate, Compl. of Black Knight, l. 491.
380. That l. 379 is copied from Alanus is clear from the fact that ll.
380-1 are from the same source. At p. 451 of Wright's edition, we find
Nature speaking of the concordant discord of the four elements--'quatuor
elementorum concors discordia'--which unites the buildings of the palace of
this world--'mundialis regiæ structuras conciliat.' Similarly, she says,
the four humours are united in the human body: 'quæ qualitates inter
elementa mediatrices conveniunt, hæ eædem inter quatuor humores pacis
sanciunt firmitatem'; &c.
Compare also Boethius, bk. iii. met. 9. 13, in Chaucer's translation. 'Thou
bindest the elements by noumbres proporcionables, that the colde thinges
mowen acorden with the hote thinges, and the drye thinges with the moiste
thinges; that the fyr, that is purest, ne flee nat over hye, ne that the
hevinesse ne drawe nat adoun over-lowe the erthes that ben plounged in the
wateres. Thou knittest togider the mene sowle of treble kinde, moeving alle
thinges'; &c.
'Et froit, et chaut, et sec, et moiste';
Rom. Rose, 17163.
'For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions fierce,
Strive here for mastery.' Milton, P. L. ii. 898.