Chapter XLII: Part II: § 1. Rubric, hir cours. The gender of the sun was feminine in (7)

The history of the rise and growth of the ideas involved in alchemy is ably treated of in the article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica already referred to; it is of some interest to note how some of the more important notions were developed. From ancient Persia came the idea of a correspondence between the heavenly bodies and parts of the human frame, alluded to in Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe, and in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, i. 3. 148[170]. From ancient India came the idea of a peregrination of sinful souls through the animal, vegetable, and even the mineral world, till they were absorbed into Deity. Hence was further evolved the notion of a transmutation of elements. The Greeks held that different deities had under their protection and guidance different types of men; an idea still preserved in our words _mercurial_, _jovial_, and _saturnine_. The school of Hippocrates held the doctrine of the four elements, or primary substances of which all others were made, an idea first mentioned (it is said) by Empedocles; to which Aristotle added a fifth element, that of ether (Arist. de Caelo, i. 2). But this idea is probably older; for we find five _bhútas_, or elements, enumerated in Sanskrit, viz. earth, water, fire, air, and ether; see Benfey's Skt. Dict. s.v. _bhú_, p. 658. Another very ancient notion is that male and female principles existed in all three worlds alike, animal, vegetable, and mineral; from which it followed that the union of two metals could produce a third. It was argued that 'monstrosities are the productions of diseased metals (really alloys), which, if properly treated, may be cured, and will turn to gold, or at least silver. The second stage in this imitation of nature is to obtain, by tincture or projection, solid or liquid gold, the cure of all evils'; Encycl. Brit. i. 463, col. 2. This notion is still preserved in the word _arsenic_ (Gk. [Greek: arsenikon], male). It was universally believed that nature produced changes in the substance of various metals by slow degrees, and the great object of alchemy was to produce the same changes quickly. The chief names in connexion with the progress of alchemy are Geber, a Sabaean, who flourished about A.D. 800; Avicenna, a native of Shiraz, born A.D. 980, died June, 1037; Albertus Magnus, born about 1193, died Nov. 15, 1280, who uses much more intelligible language than alchemists usually indulge in; Raymund Lully, born at Majorca in 1235, a scholar of Roger Bacon, who was himself deeply imbued with the mystery of alchemy; Arnoldus de Villa Nova (mentioned by Chaucer), so named because born at Villeneuve, in Provence, in 1240; and others. Paracelsus[171], a Swiss physician (born in 1493, died 1541) was somewhat better than a mere alchemist. He did something towards destroying the notion of the necessity of consulting astrological influences, and prepared the way for the discoveries of Van Helmont (born at Brussels in 1577, died 1644), with whom the history of modern chemistry may be said to begin. Van Helmont was the inventor of two new terms, _gas_[172] and _blas_, the former of which remains in common use, though the latter is wholly forgotten.

The great storehouse of treatises upon alchemy is the Latin collection, in five volumes, called Theatrum Chemicum. I have made considerable use of the edition of this work published in 1660, which I have frequently quoted in the Notes. We hence gather that most of the authors upon the subject wished men to believe that the true secrets of the science were known to _themselves only_; yet they all learnt more or less of a certain jargon which they continually repeated, attributing their empirical rules to Hermes, or Geber, or other supposed masters. The same ideas, alleged results, and supposed principles continually recur; and the brief statement of a few of these will at once shew what the reader of an alchemical treatise may expect to find. Much depended on the supposed powers of certain numbers. Thus, there were _three_ primary colours, black, white, and red[173], from which all others were produced by combination; Theat. Chem. iv. 536. According to Gower, there were really _three_ kinds of the philosopher's stone, viz. animal, vegetable, and mineral. Some said it was composed of _three_ parts; body, spirit, and soul--_corpus_, _spiritus_, and _anima_; Ashmole's Th. Ch. p. 382. Again, there were _four_ elements; _four_ complexions of nature or temperaments; _four_ colours (said some), viz. white, black, citrine (i.e. gold-coloured, with a purple tinge), and red; _four_ savours, insipid, acid, sweet, and bitter; _four_ odours, sweet, fetid, intense, and slight (_remissus_); Theat. Chem. iii. 82. In particular, there were _four_ spirits, sulphur, sal ammoniac, quicksilver, and arsenic; see note to line 778; also _four_ states or conditions, hot, cold, wet, and dry; Theat. Chem. iv. 537. There were _seven_ planets; and _because_ there were seven planets, it followed that every planet had a corresponding note in the musical scale of _seven_ notes. Every planet had its proper colour; and, in this view, there were _seven_ colours, sable, vert, gules, or, argent, sanguine, and umber; Batman upon Bartholome, lib. 19, c. 37. Every planet had its proper metal; there were therefore _seven_ metals; see the extract from Gower, in the note to l. 820. Now, as all substances are made of the same four elements, it follows that if a substance can be decomposed, and reunited in different proportions, its nature may be so changed that it shall become another substance. Many substances, if subjected to heat, are destroyed; but metals are not so, and therefore became the favourite subject for experiments. It was laid down that one metal could be transmuted into another, but only after having been first reduced into its primary elements; Theat. Chem. iv. 531. Ere long, it was accepted as an axiom that all baser metals could be transmuted either into gold (or _sol_), typified by the sun, or into silver (or _luna_), typified by the moon; these being the two extremes between which the other five metals were ranged. It was agreed that the chief agents in producing this transmutation were quicksilver and sulphur, and of these quicksilver was the more important; so much so, that the mention of quicksilver meets us everywhere, and no alchemist could work without it[174]. It was also agreed that certain processes must be gone through in a due order, generally ten or twelve in number; and if _any one_ of them failed, the whole work had to be begun afresh. They are commonly described as (1) calcination, (2) solution, (3) separation of the elements, (4) conjunction, (5) putrefaction, (6) coagulation, (7) cibation, (8) sublimation, (9) fermentation, (10) exaltation, (11) augmentation or multiplication; and (12) projection; Theat. Chem. ii. 175, and Ripley's Compound of Alchemy. By insisting on the necessity of all these processes, alchemists sufficiently guarded against all chances of an unfavourable result, viz. by securing that a result could not very well be arrived at.

The moment that we attempt to analyse their processes more closely, we are met by two difficulties that are simply insuperable: the first, that the same name is clearly used to denote quite different substances; and the second, that the same substance is called by many different names. Hence also arose endless evasions, and arrogant claims to pretended secrets; it was often said that the quicksilver of the alchemists was a substance only known to adepts, and that those who used only ordinary quicksilver knew nothing of the matter. The master could thus always mystify his pupils, and make it appear that he alone, and no one else, knew what he was talking about.

Yet it was frequently alleged that the experiments _did_ succeed. The easiest explanation of this matter is, that the hopes of the alchemists were doubtless buoyed up by the fact that every now and then the experiments _appeared_ to succeed; and it is easy to shew how. The close affinity of quicksilver for gold is well known. I copy the following from a book on experiments, which really suffices to explain the whole matter. 'If a sovereign be rubbed with mercury, it will lose its usual appearance, and appear as if silvered over[175]; the attraction of the gold for the mercury being sufficient to cause a coating of it to remain. When it is wished to remove the silvery appearance, dip the sovereign in a dilute solution of nitric acid, which will entirely take it off.' Now the alchemists tell us that quicksilver must always be used in all experiments; and they constantly recommend the introduction into the substances experimented on of a _small_ quantity of gold, which they thought would be increased. The experiments constantly failed; and whenever they failed, the pieces of molten metal were carefully saved, to be used over and over again. The frequent introduction of small quantities of gold caused that metal to accumulate; and if, by any favourable process, the quicksilver was separated from the mass, a considerable quantity of gold would now and then actually appear. This account is so much in accordance with all that we read, that we may confidently accept the conclusion of Dr. Thomson, the author of the History of Chemistry, that the vaunted philosopher's stone was certainly an _amalgam of gold_; which, 'if projected into melted lead or tin, and afterwards cupellated, would leave a portion of gold; all the gold, of course, that existed previously in the amalgam.' He adds that 'the alchemists who prepared the amalgam could not be ignorant that it contained gold'; a statement which I am inclined to modify by suggesting that it may very easily have contained _more gold than they supposed it did_. In a word, we may conclude that some deceived themselves, and others were conscious cheats.

GROUP H.

§ 74. THE MANCIPLE'S PROLOGUE. In the black-letter editions, this Prologue begins with the 16 lines printed at p. 289 (vol. iv) as the Epilogue to the Nonne Prestes Tale; because, in them, that Tale precedes. See remarks on § 51 above (p. 433).

The Prologue is self-explanatory; we see how the responsibility passed from the Cook to the Manciple. It is curious that the Cook is addressed as if he had told no Tale hitherto; see, as to this, the remarks on § 28 above (p. 399).

§ 75. THE MAUNCIPLES TALE. With respect to this story, Tyrwhitt briefly remarks that 'The Fable of the Crow has been related by so many authors, from Ovid down to Gower, that it is impossible to say whom Chaucer principally followed. His skill in new dressing an old story was never, perhaps, more successfully exerted.'

Chaucer was so familiar with Ovid, and, in particular, with the Metamorphoses, that we may fairly suppose that this was the real source of his Tale; see Metam. ii. 534-632. The last line of his story (H 308), excluding the moral, closely agrees in sense with the last line in Ovid's tale--'Inter aues albas uetuit considere coruum.'

Gower's story is in his Confessio Amantis, bk. iii, ed. Pauli, i. 305-6; but it is so briefly sketched, in 35 lines, that Chaucer could have derived nothing from it, even if he had wished to do so.

Another Middle-English analogue, much more important than Gower's, is the story of the Magpie, being the 10th Tale in the collection known as The Seven Sages, printed in Weber's Metrical Romances, iii. 86. It is much the same as the story of the Popinjay in Wright's edition of the Seven Sages, p. 73. The version in the Seven Sages clearly points to an Eastern origin for the story. See Mr. Clouston's essay on The Tell-tale Bird, in Originals and Analogues (Chaucer Soc.), p. 437; to which I refer the reader for further information.

Dr. Köppel[176] has shewn that several passages in the moral advice with which the Tale concludes (including nearly the whole of lines H 325-358), are taken from a work by Albertano of Brescia, entitled De Arte Loquendi et Tacendi, written in 1245, and newly edited by Thor Sundby in the second Appendix to his work called Brunetto Latinos levnet og skrifter (Life and Writings of Brunetto Latino), Copenhagen, 1869. See further in my Notes.

GROUP I.

§ 76. THE PARSON'S PROLOGUE. Most copies place this after the Manciples Tale, and insert the word _maunciple_ in the first line. The black-letter edition of 1542 added the spurious Plowman's Tale _after_ the Parson's, i.e. at the end of all. But all the later editions in black-letter inserted this spurious Tale _before_ the Parson's, and hence the editors had to alter the word _maunciple_ (above) into _Plowman_; which they did.

The Persones Tale was clearly meant to come last (I 47), and there is an allusion to the hour of 4 P. M. (I 5, and note). The Maunciples Tale well precedes it, because the Prologue to that Tale says they were approaching Canterbury (H 2, 3). But there is a great difficulty in the mention of the early morning (H 16); and this is why Group I has to be taken as a separate Fragment.

The reading _Foure_, in l. 5, is explained and justified in the Notes.

Some German commentators have endeavoured to discover the date of the Tales from lines 10, 11, by giving these lines a wholly gratuitous and impossible interpretation, as if they were meant to express that the moon's position was in Libra! But Chaucer says nothing of the sort; he is speaking of the moon's exaltation, and adds, parenthetically, 'I mean (to say) Libra.' Unluckily, he happens to go wrong; for Libra was the exaltation of Saturn: but this does not alter the fact, that _exaltation_ never denotes position, but was a common astrological term. It invariably refers to _a sign of the Zodiac_; and although Chaucer, for the moment, forgot to which planet Libra caused an exaltation or increase of strength, he really _did_ know the meaning of one of the commonest terms in all astrology. It is much to be regretted that theories should be founded on such gross misconceptions.

§ 77. THE PERSONES TALE. It is now known that this Tale is little else than an adaptation (with alterations, omissions, and additions, as usual with Chaucer) of a French treatise by Frère Lorens, entitled La Somme des Vices et des Vertus, written in 1279. The English work by Dan Michel of Northgate, usually known by the title of The Ayenbite of Inwyt, or Remorse of Conscience, is a much more literal and closer translation of the same treatise, and thus affords a good guide for comparison between Chaucer and the French original. The French treatise has never been printed, but exists in two MSS. in the British Museum[177], viz. Cleop. A v, and Royal 19 C ii.

An excellent dissertation on this Tale, in which a close comparison with its original is duly made, was written in German by Dr. W. Eilers in 1882, and has been rendered more accessible to Chaucer students by an English translation made in 1884, and printed in Essays on Chaucer (Chaucer Soc.), p. 501. Of this Essay I have made much use in the Notes, to which I refer the reader for further information.

It is clear that this Tale was once an independent Treatise (see § 104, in vol. iv. p. 644), which people could either 'herkne or rede'; and it was probably written before 1380, at much the same time as the Tale of Melibeus, which it somewhat resembles in style. It was obvious that, if this treatise was to be inserted among the Canterbury Tales, it could only be assigned to the Parson, who is made, accordingly, to warn the company that he dislikes rime, and can only tell them 'a mery tale in prose'; see I 46. The word _mery_ sometimes meant what we should now call 'interesting'; and it probably interested a much larger number of people in those days than it can possibly do at the present time. Our ancestors, at times, certainly inclined to serious discourses, such as the present age has no relish for.

It is quite clear that a few paragraphs near the end (iv. 644, I 1084-90)--beginning with _and namely_, and ending with _my soule_--were inserted at a much later time, probably on one of the last occasions when the poet revised his work. This passage has sometimes been called his 'Retractation'; but this term is a bad one[178]. The phrase used is 'the whiche I revoke in my _retracciouns_,' i.e. among the things which I disclaim; and the word _revoke_, i.e. recall, means that he wishes to disclaim many of his works, as being deficient in such theological merit as would conduce to the salvation of his soul; a disclaimer which he at once follows up by thanking 'oure lord and his blisful moder and alle the seintes,' for such works as were of a moral and meritorious character. This I believe to be the real meaning, and to refer to the prevalent idea that many evil deeds and sayings could be out-balanced, even at the last moment, by an appeal to a few good actions; of which medieval literature affords us many examples. Perhaps it is fair to add that the poet had good cause to regret such Tales as those of the Miller, the Reeve, and the Merchant.

In Essays on Chaucer, p. 227, is printed an Essay on this Tale by H. Simon, of Schmalkalden. The object of the Essay is to prove that Chaucer was a Wycliffite; and, filled with this idea (the truth of which I am not particularly careful either to deny or assert), the author endeavours to shew that the Persones Tale is full of interpolations made by some designing and fraudulent person. He even goes so far as to give us what he considers to be 'the original Tale' (p. 283). The French text tends to upset at least some portions of this superfluous theory, and Dr. Köppel has written an excellent article[179] to shew--what to a plain person needs but little proof--that the Persones Tale is to be considered as wholly genuine, inasmuch as a considerable number of conspicuous passages reappear, in a slightly modified form, in other parts of the Canterbury Tales. If we are to go through the Tales, picking out, and setting aside as spurious, every passage which does not please us, the result can only be unsatisfactory. Different readers will eliminate different phrases and opinions, and the residuum will be valueless. I see no reason why we may not be content with the Tales in the form presented by the best MSS.

POSTSCRIPT.

P. 395.--In a small book by Professor G. Stephens, entitled Förteckning öfver de fornämsta Brittiska och Fransyska Handskrifterna i Stockholm (Stockholm, 1847), at p. 20, is a description of a MS. which contains a copy of Palamon and Arcite in French verse, and was written early in the fifteenth century. It is remarkable that the metre is the same as that of the Knightes Tale; from which, perhaps, it was borrowed.

In Anglia, XVI. 261, L. Fränkel, of Munich, reprints a Latin fable by Casparus Cropacius, which first appeared in 1581, in illustration of the Milleres Tale. This fable follows Chaucer closely in the principal details, but omits the humour of the original. I fail to see any merit in this form of the story, and therefore refrain from reproducing it.

P. 423. See Dr. Jessopp's article on 'William of Norwich' in The Nineteenth Century, May, 1893.

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FOOTNOTES.

[1] It is also mentioned as 'the book of Fame' at the end of the Persones
Tale, I 1086. I accept this passage as genuine.

[2] In Dante's Inferno, this invocation begins Canto II.; for Canto I.
forms a general introduction to the whole.

[3] Where Chaucer says 'leet the reynes goon' (l. 951), and Dante has
'abbandonò li freni' (Inf. xvii. 107), we find in Ovid 'equi ...
colla iugo eripiunt, abruptaque lora relinquunt' (Met. ii. 315).
Chaucer's words seem closer to Dante than to the Latin original.

[4] On which Prof. Lounsbury remarks (Studies in Chaucer, ii. 243)--'More
extreme indeed than that of any one else is the position of Professor
Skeat. He asserts in all seriousness that the "House of Fame" is the
translation to which reference is made by Lydgate, when he said that
Chaucer wrote "Dante in English." Beyond this utterance it is hardly
possible to go.' This is mere banter, and entirely misrepresents my
view. Lydgate does not say that 'Dant in English' was a translation;
this is a pure assumption, for a strategical purpose in argument.
Lydgate was ignorant of Italian, and has used a stupid phrase, the
correctness of which I by no means admit. But he certainly meant
_something_; and the prominence which he gives to "Dant in English,"
when he comes to speak of Chaucer's Minor Poems, naturally suggests
The House of Fame, which he otherwise omits! My challenge to 'some
competent critic' to tell me what _other_ poem is here referred to,
remains unanswered.

[5] When Chaucer consulted Dante, his thoughts were naturally directed to
Vergil. We find, accordingly, that he begins by quoting (in ll.
143-8) the opening lines of the Æneid; and a large portion of Book I
(ll. 143-467) is entirely taken up with a general sketch of the
contents of that poem. It is clear that, at the time of writing,
Vergil was, in the main, a new book to him, whilst Ovid was certainly
an old acquaintance.

[6] By this, I only mean that Lydgate seems to have been indebted to
Chaucer for the general idea of his poem, and even for the title of
it (cf. Ho. Fame, 120). For a full account of all its sources, see
the admirable edition of Lydgate's Temple of Glas by Dr. J. Schick,
p. cxv. (Early Eng. Text Society).

[7] Misprinted 'bright,' as the final _e_ has 'dropped out' at press; of
course it should be the adverbial form, with final _e_. In l. 507,
the form is 'brighte' again, where it is the plural adjective. And,
owing to this repetition, MSS. F. and B. actually omit lines 504-7.

[8] Morris has _rabewyures_, from MS. F.; but there is no such word in
his Glossary. See the New E. Dictionary, s.v. _Baboon_.

[9] Morris has _Reues_; but his Glossary has: '_Reues_, or _reyes_, sb. a
kind of dance.' Of course it is plural.

[10] Morris has _clywe_; and his Glossary has '_Clywe_, v. to turn or
twist'; but no such verb is known. See _Claw_, v. § 3, in the New E.
Dict.

[11] Morris has _frot_; but it does not appear in the Glossary.

[12] I do not here endorse all Ten Brink's dates. I give his scheme for
what it is worth, as it is certainly deserving of consideration.

[13] It is the stanza next following the last one quoted in vol. i. p. 23.
I quote it from the Aldine edition of Chaucer, ed. Morris, i. 80.

[14] Of course Lydgate knew the work was unfinished; so he offers a
humorous excuse for its incompleteness. I may here note that Hoccleve
refers to the Legend in his poem entitled the Letter of Cupid, where
Cupid is made to speak of 'my Legende of Martres'; see Hoccleve's
Works, ed. Furnivall, p. 85, l. 316.

[15] In December, 1384, Richard II. 'held his Christmas' at Eltham
(Fabyan).

[16] I think lines 568, 569 (added in B.) are meant to refer directly to
ll. 703, 704.

[17] The Knightes Tale is a clear exception. The original Palamon and
Arcite was too good to be wholly lost; but it was entirely recast in
a new metre, and so became quite a new work.

[18] It is amusing to see that Chaucer forgot, at the same time, to alter
A. 422 (= B. 432), in which Alcestis actually tells her name. The
oversight is obvious.

[19] Line A. 277 reappears in the Canterbury Tales in the improved
form--'And ever a _thousand_ gode ageyn oon badde.' This is the 47th
line in the Milleres Prologue, but is omitted in Tyrwhitt's edition,
together with the line that follows it.

[20] I.e. with the exception of the stanzas which were transferred from
that work to the Man of Lawes Prologue and Tale; see the 'Account of
the Sources,' &c. p. 407, and the last note on p. 307 of the present
volume.

[21] I omit 'Marcia Catoun'; like Esther, she is hardly to be ranked with
the heroines of olden fables. Indeed, even Cleopatra comes in rather
strangely.

[22] See De Claris Mulieribus:--Cleopatra, cap. 86. Thisbe, cap. 12. Dido,
cap. 40. Hypsipyle and Medea, capp. 15, 16. Lucretia, cap. 46.
Hypermnestra cap. 13. And see Morley's English Writers, v. 241
(1890).

[23] It will be seen below that Chaucer certainly made use of this work
for the Legend of Hypermnestra; see p. xl.

[24] Court of Love (original edition, 1561), stanzas 15, 16. I substitute
'ninetene' for the 'xix' of the original.

[25] 'The Jesuit Rapin, in his Latin poem entitled "Horti" (Paris, 1666),
tells how a Dalmatian virgin, persecuted by the amorous addresses of
Vertumnus, prayed to the gods for protection, and was transformed
into a tulip. In the same poem, he says that the Bellides (cf.
_bellis_, a daisy), who were once nymphs, are now flowers. The story
[here] quoted [from Henry Phillips] seems to have been fabricated out
of these two passages.'--Athenæum, Sept. 28, 1889.

[26] M. Tarbé shews that the cult of the daisy arose from the frequent
occurrence of the name Marguérite in the royal family of France, from
the time of St. Louis downward. The wife of St. Louis was Marguérite
de Provence, and the same king (as well as Philip III., Philip IV.,
and Philip V.) had a daughter so named.

[27] Chaucer nearly suffered the same fate himself; see Ho. Fame, 586.

[28] Dr. Köppel notes that the name also occurs in Boccaccio's Amorosa
Visione (V. 50) in company with that of Claudian: 'Claudiano, Persio,
ed _Agatone_.'--Anglia, xiv. 237.

[29] He should also have excepted Philomela.

[30] These numbers refer to the lines of the B-text of the Prologue.

[31] Cf. L. G. W. 2177, 2227.

[32] Cf. L. G. W. 1952-8.

[33] Gower is amusing when he turns Ovid's 'Ad uada Maeandri' (Her. vii.
2) into a reference to 'King Menander'!

[34] The unfamiliar form _Guido_ was read as _Ouide_, by changing _G_,
_o_, into _O_, _e_.

[35] Lounsbury (Studies in Chaucer, ii. 259) objects that many scholars
suppose that Valerius Flaccus was unknown previously to 1416. But, if
so, how did Chaucer know that the title of his poem was 'Argonauticon
Libri,' and not 'Argonautae,' as in Dares?

[36] In fact, St. Augustine tells the whole story; De Ciuitate Dei, lib.
i. cap. xix. And it was copied from St. Augustine's version into the
Gesta Romanorum, Tale 135.

[37] For lines 1896-8, Bech refers us to Godfrey of Viterbo's Speculum
Regum; see the extract from it in Pertz, Monumenta Germanica, vol.
xxii. p. 38, l. 159; which tells us that the teaching of philosophy
and of the seven sciences at Athens was introduced there by Jupiter;
see further, at p. lvi.

[38] We must remember that, in olden times, writers often had to trust to
their memory for details not always at hand. Hence such a mistake as
this was easily made.

[39] The reference seems to be to Paulus Orosius, Hist. i. 11; but Belus
is not there mentioned. Yet Hyginus (Fab. 168) has: 'Danaus Beli
filius ex pluribus coniugibus quinquaginta filias habuit.' See
Anglia, v. 350.

[40] People were soon called 'old' in those days. Dante, at 35, was in the
'middle' of life; after which, all was downhill. Hoccleve was
miserably old at 53; Works, ed. Furnivall, p. 119. Jean de Meun, in
his Testament, ed. Méon, iv. 9, even goes so far as to say that man
flourishes up to the age of 30 or 40, after which he 'ne fait que
langorir.' Premature age seems to have been rather common in medieval
times. Moreover, Gower is speaking _comparatively_, as of one no
longer 'in the floures of his youthe.'

[41] Ten Brink, Chaucer's Sprache, &c., p. 174.

[42] The heroic couplet was practically unknown to us till Chaucer
introduced it. The rare examples of it before his time are almost
accidental. A lyrical poem printed in Böddeker's Altenglische
Dichtungen, p. 232, from MS. Harl. 2253, ends with a fair specimen,
and is older than Chaucer. The last two lines are:--

'For loue of vs his wonges waxeþ þunne,
His herte-blod he [gh]ef for al mon-kunne.'

The oldest single line of this form is at the end of Sawles Warde
(ab. A.D. 1210); see Spec. of English, pt. i. p. 95:--

'That ich mot iesu crist mi sawle [gh]elden.'

[43] Not 1491, as Bell says; he has mistaken the line.

[44] From _geten_ to _gayler_; Dr. Furnivall has not got this quite right.

[45] This excellent essay investigates Chaucer's sources, and is the best
commentary upon the present poem. I had written most of my Notes
independently, and had discovered most of his results for myself.
This does not diminish my sense of the thoroughness of the essay, and
I desire to express fully my acknowledgments to this careful student.
I may remark here that Chaucer's obligations to Froissart were long
ago pointed out by Tyrwhitt, and that the name Agatho was explained
in Cary's Dante. There is very little else that Bech has missed.
Perhaps I may put in some claim to the discovery of a sentence taken
from Boethius; and to some other points of minor importance.

[46] I.e. haste, rapidity. Cf. 'Rydynge ful _rapely_;' Piers the Plowman,
B. xvii. 49.

[47] See Part ii. sect. 1, l. 4; sect. 3, l. 11. 'Obviously, nobody
putting a hypothetical case in that way to a child would go out of
his way to name with a past verb [see the second case] a date still
in the future.'--Morley's Eng. Writers, v. 270. Similarly, the
expression 'I wolde knowe,' in the former case, precludes a date in
the _past_; and hence we are driven to conclude that the date refers
to time present. Curiously enough, there is an exactly parallel case.
Blundevill's Description of Blagrave's Astralabe, printed at London
by William Stansby, is undated. Turning to his Proposition VI, p.
615, we find--'As for example, I would know the Meridian Altitude of
the Sun y^e first of July, 1592.' The same date, 1592, is again
mentioned, at pp. 619, 620, 621, 636, and 639, which renders it
probable that the book was printed in that year.

'Neither his _collect_, ne his _expans yeres_,
Ne his _rotes_, ne his othere geres'; F 1275-6.

[49] Not wishing to enforce this view upon every reader, and in order to
save trouble in reference, I have numbered these sections 44 and 45.
But if they belong, as I suppose, to Part iv., they should have been
named 'Part iv. Canon 1,' and 'Part iv. Canon 2' respectively.

[50] 'A smal instrument portatif aboute'; Prol. l. 52 (p. 177).

[51] 'The almikanteras in thyn Astrolabie been compouned by two and two.'
Part ii. sect. 5, l. 1.

[52] Mr. Bradshaw gave me the hint; I afterwards found this remark by
Selden, in his Preface to Drayton's Polyolbion: 'his [Chaucer's]
Treatise of the Astrolabe, which I dare swear was chiefly learned out
of Messahalah.'

[53] Macha-allah or Messahala, an Arabian astronomer, by religion a Jew,
flourished towards the end of the eighth century. Latin translations
of four of his works (_not_ including the Treatise on the Astrolabe)
have been printed, and were published at Nuremberg in 1549. A list of
his works is given in Casiri (Bibl. Arab.-hisp. tom. 1er. pag. 434),
and in the Biographie Universelle.

[54] This splendid MS., of the _thirteenth_ century, is dated 1276, and
illustrated with beautifully executed coloured diagrams. It is a
storehouse of information about the Astrolabe, and I have often
consulted it.

[55] It is printed in full in my edition of Chaucer's Astrolabe, published
for the Early Eng. Text Society in 1872, at pp. 88-104.

[56] In my edition of the 'Astrolabe' for the Early Eng. Text Society
(1872), I have inserted a large number of examples of strange
blunders in the printed editions.

[57] There are two astrolabes in Merton College, besides a plate
exhibiting astronomical tables. These are all described in a paper
entitled 'Remarks on an Astrolabe belonging to F. A. Hyett, Esq.,'
written by my friend Robert Taylor, M.A., and printed in the
Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archæological
Society, vol. xii. Mr. Taylor further describes two Astrolabes in the
British Museum.

[58] This word has several senses in Chaucer. It means (1) the discs of an
astrolabe; (2) a set of tablets; (3) astronomical tables; and (4) the
game of 'tables.'

[59] '_Pertuis_: m. A hole. _Pertuis de l'Araigne_, the centre of an
Astrolabe; the hole wherein all the tables thereof are, by a pin or
naile, joined together.'--Cotgrave's French Dictionary.

[60] As far as I can ascertain.

[61] Here insert--[they mene]--which CP omit.

[62] The words from _euene_ to _climat_ are added at the bottom of the
page in the MS.

[63] Really _ten_; for _rout-e_ is dissyllabic.

[64] _Misprinted_ wo; cf. _two_, l. 2093.

[65] Imitated from Parl. of Foules, 693.

[66] Cf. Book Duch. 1332.

[67] From Parl. of Foules, 696.

[68] There _are_ such accounts; but they are probably copied from Chaucer,
who seems to have invented this transformation himself. See Notes and
Queries, 7 Ser. vi. 186, 309, 372.

[69] Not twentieth; for Legend IV contains two heroines.

[70] The MS. has _shete_, an obvious error for _swete_, the alliteration
being on _sw_. But the editors print _shene_.

[71] Not 'formator,' as in Bell's note; a contraction for 'um' is added.

[72] This is doubtless quoted from some gloss upon Ptolemy, not from the
work itself. The reference is right, for the 'motus celi' are
discussed in the Almagest, lib. i. c. 8.

[73] This star ([alpha] Arietis) was on the supposed horn of the Ram, and
hence its name; since _El-nâtih_ signifies 'the butter,' and
'El-nath' is 'butting' or 'pushing.' See Ideler, Die Bedeutung der
Sternnamen, p. 135.

[74] Well expressed by Dante, Parad, xxx. 38--

'Noi semo usciti fuore
Del maggior _corpo_ al ciel ch'é pura luce.'

Dante, like Chaucer, makes the eighth sphere that of fixed stars, and
the ninth the _primum mobile_ or swiftest heaven (_ciel
velocissimo_); Parad, xxvii. 99.

[75] Here follows a table, shewing that, in _Aries_, the value of _Saturn_
is 5, of _Jupiter_ 5, &c.; with the values of the planets in all the
other signs. The value 5, of Saturn, is obtained by adding a
_triplicite_ (value 3) to a _terme_ (value 2), these being the
'witnesses' of Saturne in Aries; and so on throughout.

[76] So on p. 12 of another tract (D) in the same MS., we find--

'_Aries calidu_m _& sucu_m; _bonu_m.
Nill capiti noceas, Aries cum lu_n_a refulget,
De vena minuas & balnea tuti_us_ intres,
Non tangas Aures, nec barbam radere debes.'

Each of the signs is described in similar triplets, from the grammar
of which I conclude that _Aries_ is here put for _in Ariete_, in the
first hexameter.

[77] 1385 is also the date of the latest allusion in the Canterbury Tales;
see note to B 3589.

[78] King John of France travelled from Canterbury to Dover (16 miles) on
Sunday, July 5, 1360; but he heard mass in the cathedral before
starting.--Temporary Pref. to the Six-text Edition, p. 131.

[79] Tyrwhitt says 'at least one Tale'; but see Prol. 792. The fact is
that Chaucer himself tacitly modified his plan afterwards, and
altered the _two_ tales to _one_; see the Parson's Prologue, I 16-29.

[80] Warton wrongly adds, or the Host. But the Host was the umpire, not a
tale-teller himself.

[81] The term 'link,' and such terms as 'head-link,' 'end-link,' and the
like, are to be found in the Six-text edition published by the
Chaucer Society, whence I have copied them.

[82] In 1749, the coach from Edinburgh to Glasgow, forty-four miles, took
two days for the journey. Twenty miles a day was fast. We may allow
the pilgrims about fifteen miles a day. See Chambers' Book of Days,
ii. 228. Once more, it is absurd to suppose Chaucer capable of
proposing to crowd about sixty tales or so into a single day! A day
of ten hours would, with interruptions, leave each speaker less than
ten minutes apiece. See also Temporary Pref. to the Six-text, p. 119,
shewing that Queen Isabella, in 1358, arrived at Canterbury from
London in three or four days; stopping at Dartford, Rochester, and
Ospringe. From the same, p. 129, we find that King John of France
went from London to Eltham, June 30, 1360 (Tuesday); to Dartford
(Wednesday); to Rochester (Thursday); to Ospringe (Friday); and to
Canterbury (Saturday). Cf. Notes and Queries, 8th S. i. 474, 522.

[83] By 'B 5' I mean Group B, l. 5, as numbered in the Chaucer Society's
Six-text edition; the arrangement of which I have adopted throughout.

[84] See note to l. 8 of the Prologue.

[85] Except as regards convenience of reference. It was Dr. Furnivall who
placed C more forward; nothing is gained by it, and it complicates
references. I heartily wish this had never been done.

[86] Tyrwhitt suggests the same thing, in a note to his Introductory
Discourse.

[87] In the Proem, the Nun calls herself an 'unworthy _son_ of Eve'; G 62.

[88] See the extracts from Chaucer's Book of the Duchess as compared with
some from Machault's Remède de Fortune in Furnivall's Trial
Forewords, p. 47, where he quotes from Étude sur G. Chaucer, by M.
Sandras, p. 290. Or consult the Notes, in vol. i., to the Book of the
Duchesse, ll. 155, 250, 634, 779, 805, 919, 950, 1037.

[89] Observe particularly this rime of _complain_ with _plein_. This shews
whence Chaucer derived such rimes as _seke_, _seke_; Prol. 17, 18.
There is a poem of 92 lines called Le Dit de la Harpe, printed in
Bartsch's Crestomathie Française, p. 408, in which more than half the
rimes are of this character.

[90] It is none too clear who are meant by 'the parson and his companion.'
Perhaps it means the Parson and the Ploughman (his brother).

[91] Observe this substitution of _one_ Tale for _two_, tacitly accepted
by Chaucer's readers as better suiting the circumstances.

[92] This statement, that the Frere was 'a grey frere,' is of some
interest.

[93] See Morley's English Writers, vi. 115-8, where an analysis of the
Tale is given.

[94] I.e. thorpe, village; I quote from the edition of 1561. Broughton is
an error for Boughton.

[95] Ed. 'as ye'; which gives no sense.

[96] For a good account of the Tabard Inn and a discussion of the
pilgrims, see Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, by J. Saunders, ed. 1889.

[97] Compare the articles by Koch and Kölbing, in Englische Studien, i.
249, ii. 528, and in Essays on Chaucer, p. 357.

[98] 'In describing the commencement of this amour, which is to be the
subject of the remainder of the poem, Chaucer has entirely departed
from his author in three principal circumstances, and, I think, in
each with very good reason, (1) By supposing Emilia to be seen first
by Palamon, he gives him an advantage over his rival which makes the
catastrophe more consonant to poetical justice. (2) The picture which
Boccaccio has exhibited of two young princes violently enamoured of
the same object, without jealousy or rivalship, if not absolutely
unnatural, is certainly very insipid and unpoetical. (3) As no
consequence is to follow from their being seen by Emilia at this
time, it is better, I think, to suppose, as Chaucer has done, that
they are not seen by her.'--Tyrwhitt.

[99] The same story has been imitated in the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, and
in the Berceau of Lafontaine (Morley).

[100] I.e. Abington, seven miles to the S.E. of Cambridge, and nearly as
far from Trumpington. In one way, it suits better; Trumpington is too
near Cambridge for the clerks to have been benighted there.

[101] For an analysis of the Tale, see Morley, Eng. Writers, v. 321.

[102] _Se-ïnt_ seems to have been occasionally dissyllabic, as in Chaucer's
Prologue, A 697.

[103] This may be true of some of the traditions embodied in the story; but
as we have it, the date is much later.

[104] Or of the fourteenth century; they did not much vary.

[105] Reprinted in Chalmers' English Poets, i. 607 (1810).

[106] The objection is made that _all_ people 'speak in prose'; but I think
Chaucer refers to something more rhetorical than ordinary
conversation.

[107] All adapted from his early work, Of the Wretched Engendering of
Mankinde; see p. 407. The four stanzas are: B 421-7, 771-7, 925-31,
and 1135-41.

[108] Chaucer is, in fact, alluding to Trivet.

[109] In Anglia, xiv. 77-122, 147-185.

[110] I sometimes copy Mr. Brock's very words.

[111] The Dominican friars were also called _Friars Preachers_.

[112] Reprinted for the Early Eng. Text Soc., ed. S. J. Herrtage, 1879; see
pp. 311, 493 of this edition.

[113] Warton gives the reference, viz. to his Speculum Historiale, lib.
vii. c. 90, fol. 86 a.

[114] I.e. it is the sole authority for placing both the Shipman's Prologue
and his Tale precisely here. At the same time, at least seventeen
other MSS. make the Shipman's Prologue follow the Man of Law's Tale;
only they turn it into a Prologue for the Sompnour or Squire.

[115] The Monk's cell is mentioned in the Prologue, l. 172; Chaucer's was
his 'celle fantastyk'; Kn. Ta. 518 (A 1376).

[116] I put (_e_) not (_b_), in order to show the _chronological_ order,
which is that of the letters, _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_, _e_, _f_.

[117] The group (_f_) has nothing to do with (_e_); as will appear.

[118] I say 'recollections' advisedly; see note to B 3293. The mistake of
confusing 'Busirus' with Diomedes, king of Thrace, suggests that
Chaucer had not as yet written out his translation of Boethius, but
had read it hastily. In other words, part of the Monkes Tale must be
earlier than 1380.

[119] Printed 'Chauncer' in the old edition which I here follow.

[120] Ed. 1532, alther; Edd. 1550, 1561, _all ther_; Morris corrects to _a
lither_.

[121] Compare C 1.

[122] C 164.

[123] C 165-170; 178-189.

[124] C 154.

[125] C 142.

[126] C. 192-9.

[127] C 203-206.

[128] C 254-276.

[129] A remarkable coincidence with the language of St. Paul in 1 Tim. vi.
10.

[130] But this passage still more resembles Jerome against Jovinian; see
note to the line.

[131] Cf. Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, ii. 292.

[132] I.e. the first edition of Gower's poem certainly preceded the Wife's
Tale, though the second edition did not appear till 1393.

[133] Lat. 'nepos'; but later on, Claudius is called his _eme_, i.e. uncle.

[134] To which it is not unusual to object, by insisting that it was not
Chaucer himself who met Petrarch, but the Clerk who tells the tale. I
doubt if this amounts to more than a quibble. There is nothing out of
place in Chaucer's reference to an incident in his own life, inasmuch
as he was a clerk himself, in the sense of being a student.
Otherwise, we have to explain how the poor clerk raised the money to
pay for this long journey; how it came to pass that _he_ met
Petrarch, and _when_; and how he acquired a copy of Petrarch's tale.

[135] See E 27, 40.

[136] See E 1147--'Petrark _wryteth_.' And yet Warton could imagine that
Chaucer did not use a copy of Petrarch's version, but only wrote from
recollection of what he had heard! If we enquire, how did Chaucer
obtain this version, no answer is so likely as the supposition that
Petrarch gave it him at parting. It is difficult to see how he could
have got it otherwise.

[137] The words 'He is _now_ deed,' in E 29, suggest that Petrarch was
still living when Chaucer first wrote the Tale.

'There was also Grisildis innocence,
And al hir mekenes and hir pacience.'
Lydgate, Temple of Glas, ed. Schick, l. 75.

[139] It occurs also in the black-letter editions, and in MSS. Harl. 1758
and 7333, Barlow 20, and Royal 18 C. ii; as well as in E., Hn., Cm.,
and Dd. Several MSS. follow it up by various scraps, taken from E.
2419-40 and F 1-8, with the false substitution of _Sire Frankeleyn_
for _Squier_ in F 1, which makes the line too long. See Part I of the
Six-text edition, pp. xvii*-xx*.

[140] Chaucer und Albertanus Brixiensis; in Archiv für das Studium der
neueren Sprachen; vol. 86, p. 29.

[141] To which are appended fables by Avian (leaf 106); by Alfonce (leaf
120, back); and by Poge the Florentyn (leaf 134).

[142] The 'reasons' are not recondite; for fifteen MSS., at the least, have
this arrangement.

[143] Tyrwhitt is quite right; he is alluding to the true Shipman's
Prologue; B 1163-90.

[144] Only a few hours after writing this sentence, I found that Mr.
Keightley, in his Tales and Popular Fictions, published in 1834, at
p. 76, distinctly derives Chaucer's Tale from the travels of Marco
Polo. I let the sentence stand, however, as an example of undesigned
coincidence.

[145] So in Mr. Hazlitt's edition; Warton originally wrote--'to believe
this story to be one of the many fables which the Arabians imported
into Europe.'

[146] 'All things can be known by Perspective, because all operations of
things take place according to the multiplication of forms and
forces, by means of this world's agents, upon yielding
materials.'--Opus Minus (see Warton).

[147] 'That sword, wrought with such art, that it cuts through enchantment
and every charm.' I correct the errors in these quotations.

[148] 'Enchantment avails not, where it inflicts a cut.'

[149] 'O splendid falsehood, when is truth so beautiful that one can prefer
her to thee?' In Warton's book, the Italian quotations abound in
misprints, not all of which are removed in Hazlitt's edition. I
cannot construe '_al_ vero,' as there printed.

[150] I would ask the reader to observe that the seven best MSS. all have
the spelling _Cambynskan_ or _Kambynskan_. The form _Cambuscan_ (in
Milton, Il Pens. 110) is found in the old black-letter editions. It
is strange that Milton should accent the wrong syllable. _Cambynskan_
arose from reading _Camiuscan_ as _Caminskan_.

[151] I find that Mr. Keightley has already suggested this.

[152] Evidently Shangtu, Coleridge's Xanadu. See his well-known lines--'In
Xanadu did Kubla Khan,' &c.

[153] This is Chaucer's 'Sarra'; see note to F 9.

[154] Mr. Keightley shews, in his Tales and Popular Fictions, p. 75, that
Cervantes has confused two stories, (1) that of a prince carrying off
a princess on a wooden horse; and (2) that of Peter of Provence
running away with the fair Magalona.

[155] See Arber's reprint, p. 85, where 'the hors of tree' [i.e. wood],
ridden by 'Cleomedes the kynges sone,' is expressly mentioned, and is
said to be 'torned' by 'a pynne that stode on his brest.'

[156] This magic ring is likewise referred to in chap. 32 of Caxton's
Reynard the Fox. It had 'thre hebrews names therin,' and it contained
'a stone of thre maner colours.' The same chapter mentions the magic
mirror.

[157] A friend of Milton's father; see Masson, Life of Milton, i. 42.

[158] Printed at Brussels, 1865; ed. A. van Hasselt.

[159] I take the liberty of abridging the story by omitting several
details.

[160] It had previously appeared in the fifth book of his Philocopo, a
juvenile work.

[161] But Dr. Köppel argues that the date must be several years later. See
his article in Anglia, xiv. 227; and observe Chaucer's use of Dante,
Par. xxxiii. 1-21, in ll. 36-56, which may, however, be due to the
insertion of ll. 36-56 at a later time. His argument that the Lyf of
Seint Cecyle was written _after_ Troilus, because it contains neither
_forthy_ nor _forwhy_, seems to me entirely valueless. The whole Tale
only contains 553 lines, whereas we find in Troilus 777 consecutive
lines in which neither word occurs, viz. in V. 351-1127.

[162] In l. 32, we have 'Thou comfort of us wrecches,' and in l. 58, 'Me
flemed wrecche.' I suspect that these lines were, in the original
draught, not far apart. l. 57 would follow l. 35 very suitably.

[163] Compare the section in the Acta Sanctorum, April 14, p. 209, headed:
'Nova corporum inventio sub Clemente VIII, A.D. MDXCIX.'

[164] See my note to l. 134 of the Tale.

[165] Tyrwhitt further explains that a poem in Ashmole's volume, called
Hermes Bird, and by him attributed to Raymund Lully, is really a poem
of Lydgate's, printed by Caxton with the title The Chorle and the
Bird.

[166] It is a totally different work from the Latin collection of
alchemical works, also called Theatrum Chemicum, so often cited in my
notes.

[167] At p. 470, Ashmole gives a brief account of Chaucer, made up from
Speght, Bale, Pits, and others, of no particular value. At p. 226, he
gives an engraving of the marble monument erected to Chaucer's memory
in Westminster Abbey, by Nicholas Brigham, A.D. 1556.

[168] This is somewhat amusing. Charnock describes his numerous
misadventures, and it is not clear that he preserved his faith in
alchemy unshaken.

[169] Thomson's Hist. Chemistry, i. 25.

[170] '_Sir To._ What shall we do else? Were we not born under Taurus? _Sir
And._ Taurus! that's sides and heart. _Sir To._ No, sir; it's legs
and thighs.' Both are wrong, of course, as Shakespeare knew. Chaucer
says--'Aries hath thin heved [head], and Taurus _thy nekke and thy
throte_;' Astrolabe, pt. i. sec. 21. l. 52.

[171] See Browning's drama entitled 'Paracelsus.'

[172] It is useless to try and discover an etymology for this word. It was
invented wittingly. The most that can be said was that Van Helmont
may have been thinking of the Dutch _geest_, a spirit; E. _ghost_.

[173] This seems to us a strange selection; red, green, and violet would
have been better. But this scale of colours is due to Aristotle, De
Sensu, ii.; cf. Bartholomeus, De Proprietatibus Rerum, bk. xix. c. 7.

[174] The Indian god Siva, was actually worshipped _under the form of
quicksilver_. Professor Cowell refers me to Marco Polo, ed. Yule, ii.
300, and to his own edition of Colebrooke's Essays, i. 433; also to
the semi-mythic life of Sankara Áchárya, the great reformer of the
eighth century.

[175] This explains why the alchemists, in seeking gold, sometimes supposed
that they had obtained silver.

[176] Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, ed. L. Herrig; vol. 86,
p. 44.