There is nothing whatever to connect this Prologue with any preceding Tale.
In MS. E. and most others, it follows the Man of Law's Tale, which cannot
be right, as that Tale must be followed by the Shipman's Prologue.
Curiously enough, that Prologue _does_ follow the Man of Law's Tale in the
Harleian MS., but the Wife of Bath's Tale is made to follow next, in place
of the Shipman's Tale.
In MS. Pt., and several others, the Wife's Prologue follows the Merchant's
Tale; such is the arrangement in edd. 1532 and 1561. This is possible, as
the Merchant's Tale ends a Fragment, and the Wife's Prologue begins one;
but it is easier to fit the lines at the end of the Merchant's Tale to the
Squire's Prologue. In the Royal MS. 18. C. 2, and in MSS. Laud 739 and
Barlow 20, there is an attempt to introduce the Wife's Prologue by some
spurious lines which are printed in vol. iii. p. 446. I just note that we
have a genuine Epilogue to the Merchant's Tale (see E. 2419-2440); which is
quite enough to put the above lines out of court.
MS. Ln. has a different arrangement. It gives eight spurious lines at the
end of the Squire's Tale, and then four more spurious lines to link them
with the Wife's Prologue; see vol. iii. p. 446.
In the Ellesmere MS. there are numerous quotations in the margin, as will
be noted in due course. In the Essays on Chaucer, pp. 293, the Rev. W. W.
Woollcombe has shewn that the passages which seem to be taken from John of
Salisbury are really taken from Jerome, whom John copied, verbally, at some
length. I may add, that I came independently to the same conclusion;
indeed, it becomes obvious, on investigation, that such was the case.
Chaucer's chief sources for this Prologue are: Jerome's Epistle against
Jovinian, and Le Roman de la Rose. I quote the former (frequently) from
Hieronymi Opus Epistolarum, edited by Erasmus, printed at Basle in 1524.
1. _auctoritee_, authoritative text, quotable statement of a good author.
'Though there were no written statement on the subject, my own experience
would enable me to speak of the evils of marriage.' Cf. the [292] character
of the Wife in the Prologue, A. 445-476. Lines 1-3 are imitated from Le
Rom. de la Rose, 13006-10.