Chapter I: Front Matter

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HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
OF MODERN KNOWLEDGE

CHAUCER AND HIS TIMES

BY GRACE E. HADOW

LONDON
WILLIAMS & NORGATE

HENRY HOLT & Co., NEW YORK
CANADA: WM. BRIGGS, TORONTO
INDIA: R. & T. WASHBOURNE, LTD.

1914

HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
OF MODERN KNOWLEDGE

_Editors_:
HERBERT FISHER, M.A., F.B.A, LL.D.
PROF. GILBERT MURRAY, D.LITT., LL.D., F.B.A.
PROF. J. ARTHUR THOMSON, M.A., LL.D.
PROF. WILLIAM T. BREWSTER, M.A.
(Columbia University, U.S.A.)

NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

CHAUCER AND HIS TIMES

BY GRACE E. HADOW

LECTURER IN ENGLISH, LADY MARGARET
HALL, OXFORD; LATE READER IN ENGLISH,
BRYN MAWR COLLEGE, U.S.A.

LONDON
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE

_The following volumes of kindred interest have already been published in this Library_:

43. English Literature: Mediæval. By Prof. W. P. Ker.
13. Mediæval Europe. By H. W. C. Davis, M.A.
45. The English Language. By L. Pearsall Smith, M.A.
35. Landmarks in French Literature. By G. L. Strachey.

_First Printed April 1914_

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

NOTES ON CHAUCER'S USE OF 'E' vi

I CHAUCER'S LIFE AND TIMES 7

II CHAUCER'S WORKS 32

III CHAUCER'S TREATMENT OF HIS SOURCES 69

IV CHAUCER'S CHARACTER-DRAWING 106

V CHAUCER'S HUMOUR 143

VI CHAUCER'S DESCRIPTIVE POWER 173

VII SOME VIEWS OF CHAUCER'S ON MEN AND THINGS 196

VIII CHAUCER'S INFLUENCE 229

BIBLIOGRAPHY 254

INDEX 255

NOTES ON CHAUCER'S USE OF 'E'

1. Final _e_ is usually sounded in Chaucerian verse, but

(_a_) it is slurred over before a word beginning with a vowel, e.g. I
noldë sette [slur] at al that noyse [slur] a grote; before certain
words beginning with _h_, such as _he_; any part of the verb to
_have_; the adverbs _heer_, _how_, and a mute _h_ as in _honour_--e.g.
Tho redde [slur] he me how Sampson loste [slur] his heres:

(_b_) it is sometimes dropped in certain words in common use such as
_were_, _hadde_, _wolde_, etc.--e.g. Wolde [slur] go to bedde,
[slur] he wolde [slur] no lenger tarie.

2. Middle _e_ is sometimes dropped: e.g. hav(e)nes.

3. Final _e_ should always be sounded at the end of a line.

These notes are based on the grammatical hints given in Professor Skeat's Introduction to his single-volume edition of Chaucer's complete works (Clarendon Press, 1901), from which the illustrations in this book are also drawn. To his researches and to those of Professors Lounsbury and Ten Brink, and of the members of the Chaucer Society, all students of Chaucer must gratefully acknowledge their indebtedness. In quoting from Chaucer I have kept to Professor Skeat's spelling. All attempts to modernise Chaucerian verse inevitably result in destroying something of the charm and melody of the original. Readers whose eyes are not accustomed to the forms of Middle English will find practically all difficulty disappear if they read the passages aloud with modern pronunciation. With other Middle English and Scottish poets I have reluctantly taken greater liberties, since their language is often more remote from the speech of to-day. An example of the original Scottish forms will be found on p. 240.

G. E. H.

CHAUCER AND HIS TIMES