_Chaucer's "Fifty Wekes"_ (Vol. iii., p. 202.).--A. E. B.'s natural and
ingeniously-argued conjecture, that Chaucer, by the "_fifty wekes_" of the
_Knightes Tale_, "meant to imply the interval of _a solar year_,"--whether
we shall rest in accepting the poet's measure of time loosely and
poetically, or (which I would gladly feel myself authorised to do) find in
it, with your correspondent, an astronomical and historical reason,--is
fully secured by the comparison with Chaucer's original.
The _Theseus_ of Boccaccio says, appointing the listed fight:
"E TERMINE vi sia a ciò donato
D'UN ANNO INTERO."
To which the poet subjoins:
"E così fu ordinato."
See TESEIDE, v. 98.