More primitive in origin than the harmony of the spheres are references to
the four elements, to the divisions of the world, and to the cardinal
points or quarters of the earth. Of these, probably the most primitive is
the last. The idea of four cardinal points, the "before," the "behind,"
the "right," and the "left," later given the names North, South, East, and
West, appears among peoples in their very earliest stages of civilization,
and because of its great usefulness has remained and probably will remain
throughout the history of the human race. Only one of Chaucer's many
references to the cardinal points need be mentioned. In the _Man of Lawes
Tale_ (B.491ff.) the cardinal points are first suggested by an allusion to
the four 'spirits of tempest,' which were supposed to have their
respective abodes in the four quarters of earth, and then specifically
named in the lines following:
"Who bad the foure spirits of tempest,
That power han tanoyen land and see,
'Bothe north and south, and also west and est,
Anoyeth neither see, ne land, ne tree?'"
Of almost equal antiquity are ideas of the universe as a threefold world
having heaven above, earth below, and a region of darkness and gloom
beneath the earth. Chaucer usually speaks of the threefold world, the
"tryne compas," as comprising heaven, earth and sea. Thus in the _Knightes
Tale_:[21]
"'O chaste goddesse of the wodes grene,
To whom bothe hevene and erthe and see is sene,
Quene of the regne of Pluto derk and lowe,'"
Fame's palace is said to stand midway between heaven, earth and sea:
"Hir paleys stant, as I shal seye,
Right even in middes of the weye
Betwixen hevene, erthe, and see;"[22]
Again in _The Seconde Nonnes Tale_, the name 'tryne compas' is used of the
threefold world and the three regions are mentioned:
"That of the tryne compas lord and gyde is,
Whom erthe and see and heven, out of relees,
Ay herien;"[23]