250. Great skill in magic was attributed in the middle ages to Moses and
Solomon, especially by the Arabs. Moses was supposed to have learnt magic
from the Egyptians; cf. Acts vii. 22; Exod. vii. 11. See the story of the
Fisherman and Genie in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, where the genie
invokes the name of Solomon.
253. 'Some said it was a wonderful thing to make glass from fern-ashes,
since glass does not resemble fern-ashes at all.' Glass contains two
principal ingredients, sand and some kind of alkali. For the latter, [379]
the calcined ashes of seaweed, called _kelp_, were sometimes used; or,
according to Chaucer, the ashes of ferns. Modern chemistry has developed
many greater wonders.
256. 'But, because men have known it (the art of glass-making) so long,
their talking and wonder about it ceases.' The art is of very high
antiquity, having been known even to the Egyptians. _so fern_, so long ago;
Chaucer sometimes rimes words which are spelt exactly alike, but only when
their meanings differ. See Prol. l. 17, where _seke_, to seek, rimes with
_seke_, sick. Other examples are seen in the Kn. Tale, _see_ being repeated
in A. 1955-6; _caste_ in A. 2171-2; _caas_ in A. 2357-8; and _fare_ in A.
2435-6. Imperfect rimes like _disport_, _port_, Prol. 137, 138, are common;
see Prol. 241, 433, 519, 579, 599, 613, 811; Kn. Ta. 379, 381 (A. 1237,
1239), &c. For examples of _fern_ compare--
'Ye, farewel al the snow of _ferne_ yere,'
i. e. good bye to all last year's snow; Troil. and Cres. v. 1176 (see vol.
ii. p. 394). So also _fernyere_, long ago, in P. Pl. B. v. 440; spelt
_uernyere_, in Ayenbite of Inwyt, ed. Morris, p. 92. Adverbs commonly
terminate in _-e_, but the scribes are right in writing _fern_ here; see
A. S. Gospels, Matt. xi. 21, for the forms _gefyrn_, _gefern_, meaning
_long ago_. Occleve, in La Male Regle, 196, uses the expression _fern ago_,
i. e. long ago; Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 31. And in Levins's Manipulus
Vocabulorum, ed. Wheatley, we find--'Old farne years, _anni praeteriti,
seculum prius_.'
With these examples in view, we might interpret _ferne halwes_ in Chaucer's
Prologue, l. 14, by 'olden' rather than by 'distant' saints; yet the latter
is decisively authenticated by a passage in his translation of Boethius,
bk. ii. met. 7, where the expression 'renoun ysprad to _ferne poeples_,
goth by dyverse tonges,' can only mean 'distant' peoples. _Fern_, in the
sense of _old_, is explained at once by the Gothic _fairnis_, old; but, in
the sense of _distant_, would seem to be corruptly and incorrectly formed,
since the A. S. _feorran_, meaning _far_, is strictly an adverb, from the
adjective _feorr_. But in course of time this adverb came to be declined as
an adjective; see the examples in Stratmann, s. v. _feorren_.
258. Cf. 'What is the cause of thunder'; K. Lear, iii. 4. 160. The opinions
of various ancient philosophers as to the cause of thunder are given in
Plutarch's treatise, De Placitis Philosophorum ([Greek: peri tôn areskontôn
tois philosophois]), lib. iii. c. 3. It was usually believed to result from
the collision of clouds. 'Fulmina autem collisa nubila faciunt'; Isidore,
Originum lib. xiii. c. 9. Cf. A. S. Leechdoms, iii. 281.
263. For a full explanation of this difficult passage, I must be content to
refer the reader to Mr. Brae's edition of Chaucer's Astrolabe, pp. 77 and
86, and my own edition of the same (E. E. T. S.), p. lvi. The chief points
that now seem tolerably certain are these.
(1) The Angle Meridional was an astrological term. The heavens were divided
into twelve equal parts called 'mansions,' and four of [380] these mansions
were technically called 'angles'; the _angle meridional_ was the same as
the _tenth mansion_, which was bounded on the one edge by the meridian, and
on the other by a semi-circle passing through the N. and S. points of the
horizon, and lying 30° to the E. of the meridian; so that, at the
equinoxes, at any place situate on the equator, the sun would cross this
portion of the sky between 10 A. M. and the hour of noon.
(2) Since this 'angle' corresponds to the end of the forenoon, the sun
leaves the said angle at the moment of noon, and l. 263 means no more than
'it was now past noon.'
(3) The 'royal beast' means the king of beasts, the lion, and (here in
particular) the sign of the zodiac named Leo. This sign, on March 15, in
Chaucer's time, and in the latitude of London, began to 'ascend,' or rise
above the horizon, just about noon. An additional reason for calling Leo
'royal' is because the principal star in the constellation is called
_Regulus_ in Latin, [Greek: Basiliskos] in Greek, and _Melikhi_ in Arabic,
all epithets signifying _kingly_ or _royal_.
(4) But, before the Tartar king rose from the feast, the time past noon had
so increased that the star called Aldiran, situate in Leo, was now rising
above the horizon. In other words it was very nearly two o'clock. It may be
added, that, by the time the _whole_ of the sign had ascended, it would be
about a quarter to three. Hence Chaucer speaks of the sign as yet (i. e.
still) ascending.
The chief remaining point is to fix the star _Aldiran_.
Most MSS. read _Aldrian_, owing to the frequent shifting of _r_ in a word;
just as _brid_, for instance, is the old spelling of _bird_. But the
Hengwrt MS. is right. The name _Aldiran_, _Aldurin_, or _Aldiraan_, occurs
in the old Parisian star-lists as the name of a star in the constellation
Leo, and is described in them as being 'in fronte Leonis.' The word means
'the two fore-paws,' and the notes of the star's position are such that I
am persuaded it is the star now called [theta] Hydrae, situate near the
Lion's fore-paws, as commonly drawn. The only objection to this explanation
arises from the comparative insignificance of the star; but whoever will
take the trouble to examine the old lists will see that certain stars were
chosen quite as much for the sake of _position_ as of _brightness_. When it
was desired to mark particular points in the sky, bright stars were chosen
if they were conveniently placed; but, failing that, any would serve the
purpose that were fairly distinct. This is why, in a star-list of only 49
stars in MS. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ii. 3. 3, such stars as [delta] Capricorni,
[delta] Aquarii, [delta] Ophiuchi, &c., find a place. The star _Aldiran_
([theta] Hydrae) was remarkable for rising, in the latitude of Paris, _just
before_ the splendid star [alpha] Leonis of the first magnitude, whose
coming it thus heralded. That star is _also_ found in the same star-lists,
with the name _Calbalesed_, or 'the lion's heart'; in Latin, Cor Leonis;
another name for it being _Regulus_, as stated above.
On the whole, we fairly suppose Chaucer's meaning to be, that before [381]
the feast concluded, it was not only _past noon_, but nearly _two hours
past noon_.
269. _chambre of parements._ Tyrwhitt's note is--'_Chambre de parement_ is
translated by Cotgrave, the presence-chambre, and _lit de parement_, a bed
of state. _Parements_ originally signified all sorts of ornamental
furniture or clothes, from Fr. _parer_, to adorn. See Kn. Ta. 1643 (A.
2501), and Legend of Good Women; Dido, l. 181.' He adds that the Italians
use _camera de' paramenti_ in the same sense.
272. _Venus children_, the worshippers or subjects, of Venus. It merely
means the knights and ladies at the feast, whose thoughts then turned upon
love, because the season was astrologically favourable for it; cf. Kn.
Tale, 1628, 1629 (A. 2486). The reason is given in l. 273, viz. that 'hir
lady,' i. e. _their_ lady or goddess, as represented by the planet Venus,
was then situate in the sign Pisces. This sign, in astrology, is called the
'exaltation' of Venus, or the sign in which she exerts most power. Hence
the expression _ful hye_, and the statement that Venus regarded her
servants with a friendly aspect. In the Wyf of Bathes Prol. (D. 704),
Chaucer has the line--
'In _Pisces_, wher _Venus is exaltat_.'
'Who will not commend the wit of astrology? Venus, born out of the sea,
hath her exaltation in Pisces'; Sir T. Browne, Works, ed. Wilkin, iv. 382.
287. _Lancelot_, the celebrated lover of queen Guinever in the Arthur
romances. Cp. Dante, Inf. v. 128.
291. 'The steward bids (them) to be quick with the spices.' Cf. Joseph of
Arimathea, ed. Skeat, note to l. 698. And see vol. ii. 506.
300. _Hath_ is here used like the mod. F. _il y a_, for which O. F. often
has _a_ only. The sense is--'there is plenty.' The idiom is borrowed from
French, and the text is correct. (I owe this note to a friend.)