Endnotes
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Sweet. ↩
-
Grove forest. ↩
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Twigs, boughs. ↩
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Tyrwhitt points out that “the Bull” should be read here, not “the Ram,” which would place the time of the pilgrimage in the end of March; whereas, in the prologue to the “Man of Law’s Tale,” the date is given as the “eight and twenty day of April, that is messenger to May.” ↩
-
Hearts, inclinations. ↩
-
Dante, in the “Vita Nuova,” distinguishes three classes of pilgrims: palmieri, palmers who go beyond sea to the East, and often bring back staves of palm-wood; peregrini, who go the shrine of St. Jago in Galicia; Romei, who go to Rome. Sir Walter Scott, however, says that palmers were in the habit of passing from shrine to shrine, living on charity—pilgrims on the other hand, made the journey to any shrine only once, immediately returning to their ordinary avocations. Chaucer uses “palmer” of all pilgrims. ↩
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The distant saints known, renowned, in sundry lands. “Hallows” survives, in the meaning here given, in All Hallows—All-Saints’—day. Couth, past participle of conne to know, exists in uncouth. ↩
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The Tabard—the sign of the inn—was a sleeveless coat, worn by heralds. The name of the inn was, some three centuries after Chaucer, changed to the Talbot. ↩
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Who had by chance fallen into company. Y-fall, y is a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon ge prefixed to participles of verbs. It is used by Chaucer merely to help the metre. In German, y-fall, or y-falle, would be gefallen, y-run, or y-ronne, would be geronnen. ↩
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And we were well accommodated with the best. ↩
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Foreword, covenant, promise. ↩
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Describe, relate. ↩
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Farther. ↩
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Alexandria, in Egypt, captured by Pierre de Lusignan, king of Cyprus, in 1365 but abandoned immediately afterwards. Thirteen years before, the same Prince had taken Satalie, the ancient Attalia, in Anatolia, and in 1367 he won Layas, in Armenia, both places named just below. ↩
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Been placed at the head of the table, above knights of all nations, in Prussia, whither warriors from all countries were wont to repair, to aid the Teutonic Order in their continual conflicts with their heathen neighbours in “Lettowe” or Lithuania (German, Litthauen), Russia, etc. ↩
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Journeyed, ridden, made campaigns; German, reisen, to travel. ↩
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Algesiras was taken from the Moorish king of Grenada, in 1344: the Earls of Derby and Salisbury took part in the siege. ↩
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Belmarie is supposed to have been a Moorish state in Africa; but “Palmyrie” has been suggested as the correct reading. ↩
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The Great Sea, or the Greek sea, is the Eastern Mediterranean. ↩
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Tramissene, or Tremessen, is enumerated by Froissart among the Moorish kingdoms in Africa. ↩
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Ilkë, same; compare the Scottish phrase “of that ilk,”—that is, of the estate which bears the same name as its owner’s title. ↩
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Palatie, or Palathia, in Anatolia, was a fief held by the Christian knights after the Turkish conquests—the holders paying tribute to the infidel. Our knight had fought with one of those lords against a heathen neighbour. ↩
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He was held in very high esteem. ↩
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Nothing unbecoming a gentleman. ↩
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He wore a short doublet, all soiled by the contact of his coat of mail. ↩
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Curled. ↩
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Wonderfully nimble. ↩
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Engaged in cavalry expeditions or raids into the enemy’s country. ↩
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Considering the short time he had had. ↩
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Nighttime. ↩
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It was the custom for squires of the highest degree to carve at their fathers’ tables. ↩
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For it pleased him so to ride. ↩
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Large arrows, with peacocks’ feathers. ↩
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With nut-brown hair; or, round like a nut, the hair being cut short. ↩
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Knew. ↩
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Shield for an archer’s arm, still called a “bracer,” from the French bras, arm. ↩
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A figure of St. Christopher, used as a brooch, and supposed to possess the power of charming away danger. ↩
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Forester. ↩
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Certainly. ↩
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St. Eligius, or Eloy. ↩
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Called. ↩
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In seemly fashion. ↩
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Properly; Chaucer sneers at the debased. Anglo-Norman then taught as French in England. ↩
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Pleasure. ↩
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Not the least speck. ↩
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Reached out her hand. ↩
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Assuredly she was of a lively disposition. ↩
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Took pains to assume a courtly air. ↩
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Worthy; French digne. ↩
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Piteous; full of pity. ↩
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Bread of finest flour. ↩
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Staff, rod. ↩
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Well-formed. ↩
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Gray eyes appear to have been a mark of female beauty in Chaucer’s time. ↩
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Certainly she was not of low stature. ↩
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Neat. ↩
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A string of beads having the drops, or gaudies, green. ↩
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Fair above all others; “for the mastery” was applied to medicines in the sense of “sovereign” as we now apply it to a remedy. ↩
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A bold rider, fond of hunting—a proclivity of the monks in those days, that occasioned much complaint and satire. ↩
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It was fashionable to hang bells on horses’ bridles. ↩
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St. Benedict was the first founder of a spiritual order in the Roman church. Maurus, abbot of Fulda from 822 to 842, did much to reestablish the discipline of the Benedictines on a true Christian basis. ↩
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Somewhat. ↩
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Same. ↩
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He cared nothing for the text. ↩
-
Mad, Scottish wud. Felix says to Paul, “Too much learning hath made thee mad.” ↩
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Toil hard. ↩
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As the rules of St. Augustine prescribe. ↩
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A right hard rider. ↩
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Riding. ↩
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Pleasure. ↩
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Worked at the edge with a fur called gris, or gray. ↩
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Deep-set. ↩
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Wasted. ↩
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A friar with licence or privilege to beg, or exercise other functions, within a certain district: as, “the limitour of Holderness.” ↩
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Knows, understands. ↩
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Everywhere; German, ueberall. ↩
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Where he knew that the liberal dole would be given him. ↩
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Has well made confession. ↩
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Vaunt, boast. ↩
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Stuffed. ↩
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By rote; from memory. ↩
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A kind of song; from the Saxon geddian, to sing. ↩
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A leper. ↩
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Offal, refuse; from the French pourrir, to rot. ↩
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In every place where. ↩
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Was nowhere any man. ↩
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Rent; that is, he paid a premium for his licence to beg. ↩
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The first words of Genesis and John, employed in some part of the mass. ↩
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At meetings appointed for friendly settlement of differences; the business was often followed by sports and feasting. ↩
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He was of much service. ↩
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Half or short cloak. ↩
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Neatly. ↩
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He would for anything that the sea were guarded. “The old subsidy of tonnage and poundage,” says Tyrwhitt, “was given to the king ‘pour la saufgarde et custodie del mer.’—for the safeguard and keeping of the sea” (12 E. IV C. 3). ↩
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Middleburg, at the mouth of the Scheldt, in Holland; Orwell, a seaport in Essex. ↩
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Crowns, so called from the shields stamped on them; French, écu; Italian, scudo. ↩
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Employed. ↩
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In such a dignified way did he manage. ↩
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Merchandising; conduct of trade; agreement to borrow money. ↩
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Know not; wot not. ↩
-
Oxford. ↩
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Had long gone, devoted himself. ↩
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Thin. ↩
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Poorly. ↩
-
His uppermost short cloak. ↩
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Liefer; rather. ↩
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Obtain. ↩
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To study, attend school; poor scholars at the universities used then to go about begging for money to maintain them and their studies. ↩
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The portico of St. Paul’s, which lawyers frequented to meet their clients. ↩
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Full. ↩
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In suspicion. ↩
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Judgments. ↩
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Pick a flaw in what he wrote. ↩
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Knew. ↩
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Mixed in colour; French, mêler, to mix. ↩
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Cincture, sash, girdle; usually ornamented with bars or stripes. ↩
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A large freeholder; a country gentleman. ↩
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Wont, custom. ↩
-
Full. ↩
-
The patron saint of hospitality, celebrated for supplying his votaries with good lodging and good cheer. ↩
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Constantly being pressed on one. ↩
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Stored with wine. ↩
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In cage; the place behind Whitehall, where the king’s hawks were encaged, was called the Mews. ↩
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Many a pike in his fishpond; in those Catholic days, when much fish was eaten, no gentleman’s mansion was complete without a “stew.” ↩
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Unless. ↩
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Fixed, always ready. ↩
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A dagger and a purse. ↩
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Probably a steward or accountant in the county court. ↩
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A landholder of consequence; holding of a duke, marquis, or earl, and ranking below a baron. ↩
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Weaver; German, weber. ↩
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Tapestry-maker; French, tapissier. ↩
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Spruce. ↩
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Mounted. ↩
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In every part. ↩
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On the raised platform at the end of the hall, where sat at meat or in judgment those high in authority, rank, or honour; in our days the worthy craftsmen might have been described as “good platform men.” ↩
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Knew. ↩
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Fitted. ↩
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To take precedence over all in going to the evening service of the Church, or to festival meetings, to which it was the fashion to carry rich cloaks or mantles against the homecoming. ↩
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The nonce, occasion. ↩
-
“Poudre marchand tart,” some now unknown ingredient used in cookery; galingale, sweet or long rooted cyprus. ↩
-
A rich soup made by stamping flesh in a mortar. ↩
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Gangrene, ulcer. ↩
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Not what is now known by the name; one part of it was the brawn of a capon. ↩
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A seaman who dwelt far to the West. ↩
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On a hack, as he could. ↩
-
Coarse cloth. ↩
-
Harbourage. ↩
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Pilotage; from Anglo-Saxon ladman, a leader, guide, or pilot; hence “lodestar,” “lodestone.” ↩
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Make fortunate. ↩
-
Known. ↩
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Remedy. ↩
-
The authors mentioned here were the chief medical textbooks of the middle ages. The names of Galen and Hippocrates were then usually spelt Gallien and Hypocras or Ypocras. ↩
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In red and blue. ↩
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A fine silk stuff. ↩
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He spent but moderately, keeping the money he had made during the visitation of the plague. ↩
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Damage; pity. ↩
-
Skill. The west of England, especially around Bath, was the seat of the cloth-manufacture, as were Ypres and Ghent in Flanders. ↩
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The offering at mass. ↩
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Headdresses; Chaucer here satirises the fashion of the time, which piled bulky and heavy waddings on ladies’ heads. ↩
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Used in the sense of fresh or new; as in Latin, mustum signifies new wine; and Chaucer elsewhere speaks of “moisty ale” as opposed to “old.” ↩
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Now. ↩
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Bologna in Italy. ↩
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At the shrine of St. Jago of Compostella in Spain. ↩
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Knew. ↩
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Buck-toothed; goat-toothed, to signify her wantonness; or gap-toothed—with gaps between her teeth. ↩
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Jest, talk. ↩
-
Knew. ↩
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Work. ↩
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Oftentimes. ↩
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He was satisfied with very little. ↩
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Great and small. ↩
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Gave. ↩
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Unlearned. ↩
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An endowment to sing masses for the soul of the donor. ↩
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Detained. ↩
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Severe. ↩
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Disdainful. ↩
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But if it were. ↩
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Reprove; hence our modern snub. ↩
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Nonce, occasion. ↩
-
Double or artificial conscience. ↩
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Properly a ton; generally, any large quantity. ↩
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Hard worker. ↩
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Pain, loss. ↩
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Ditch, dig. ↩
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Both of his own labour and his goods. ↩
-
Jacket without sleeves. ↩
-
Wheresoever. ↩
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The usual prize at wrestling matches. ↩
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Stub or knot in a tree; it describes a thickset strong man. ↩
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Head; German, kopf. ↩
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Nostrils; from the Anglo-Saxon, thirlian, to pierce; hence the word drill, to bore. ↩
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A babbler and a buffoon; Golias was the founder of a jovial sect called by his name. ↩
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The proverb says that every honest miller has a thumb of gold; probably Chaucer means that this one was as honest as his brethren. ↩
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A Manciple—Latin, manceps, a purchaser or contractor—was an officer charged with the purchase of victuals for inns of court or colleges. ↩
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Buyers; French, acheteurs. ↩
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On trust. ↩
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Always. ↩
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Purchase. ↩
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Surpass. ↩
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Unless he were mad. ↩
-
Outwitted, made a fool of, them all. ↩
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A land-steward; still called “grieve”—Anglo-Saxon, gerefa—in some parts of Scotland. ↩
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A store-place for grain. ↩
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Examiner of accounts. ↩
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Cattle. ↩
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Hind, servant. ↩
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His tricks and cheating. ↩
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In dread. ↩
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Abode. ↩
-
Also. ↩
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Mystery; trade, handicraft. ↩
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For stod, a stallion, or steed. ↩
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Dapple. ↩
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Was called. ↩
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Blue-gray, or sky-blue. ↩
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The hindermost in the troop or procession. ↩
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Summoner, apparitor, who cited delinquents to appear in ecclesiastical courts. ↩
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Red or pimply. ↩
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Scanty. ↩
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Pustules, weals. ↩
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Buttons. ↩
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Call. ↩
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Search. ↩
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A cant law-Latin phrase. ↩
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A low, ribald fellow; the word was used of both sexes; it comes from the Anglo-Saxon verb to hire. ↩
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“Fleece” a man; “pluck a pigeon.” ↩
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Anywhere. ↩
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Unless. ↩
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Absolving. ↩
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An ecclesiastical writ. ↩
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Within his jurisdiction he had at his own pleasure the young people (of both sexes) in the diocese. ↩
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Counsel. ↩
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The post of an alehouse sign; a May pole. ↩
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A seller of pardons or indulgences. ↩
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Sang the bass. ↩
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Streak, strip. ↩
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Locks, shreds, little heaps. ↩
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The new gait, or fashion; gait is still used in this sense in some parts of the country. ↩
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An image of Christ; so called from St. Veronica, who gave the Saviour a napkin to wipe the sweat from His face as He bore the Cross, and received it back with an impression of His countenance upon it. ↩
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Brimful. ↩
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Packet, baggage; French, malle, a trunk. ↩
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Pillowcase. ↩
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Piece. ↩
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Took hold of him. ↩
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Copper, latten. ↩
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Jests. ↩
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Alderbest, altherbest, allerbest—best of all. ↩
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An anthem sung while the congregation made the offering. ↩
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Polish well his tongue; speak smoothly. ↩
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Apparently another Southwark tavern; Stowe mentions a “Bull” as being near the Tabard. ↩
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How we bore ourselves—what we did—that same night. ↩
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Account it not rudeness in me. ↩
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Let him speak. ↩
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Although I have. ↩
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List, pleased. ↩
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Deep-set. ↩
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Cheapside, then inhabited by the richest and most prosperous citizens of London. ↩
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Lodging, inn; French, herberge. ↩
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If. ↩
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Pleasure. ↩
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Prepare yourselves, intend. ↩
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If it please you all. ↩
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If ye be not merry, smite off. ↩
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Seek. ↩
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To make it matter of deliberation; to weigh the proposal carefully. ↩
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Consideration. ↩
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Flat. ↩
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At the cost of you all. ↩
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More. ↩
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Fetched. ↩
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Was the cock to awaken us all. ↩
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At the second milestone on the old Canterbury road. ↩
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Know your promise. ↩
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Draw lots ere ye go farther. ↩
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Lot (Latin, sors), or chance (Latin, casus). ↩
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Since. ↩
-
For the plan and principal incidents of the “Knight’s Tale,” Chaucer was indebted to Boccaccio, who had himself borrowed from some prior poet, chronicler, or romancer. Boccaccio speaks of the story as “very ancient;” and, though that may not be proof of its antiquity, it certainly shows that he took it from an earlier writer. The “Tale” is more or less a paraphrase of Boccaccio’s Theseida; but in some points the copy has a distinct dramatic superiority over the original. The Theseida contained ten thousand lines; Chaucer has condensed it into less than one-fourth of the number. The “Knight’s Tale” is supposed to have been at first composed as a separate work; it is undetermined whether Chaucer took it direct from the Italian of Boccaccio, or from a French translation. ↩
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Once on a while; formerly. ↩
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Was called; from the Anglo-Saxon, hatan, to bid or call; German, heissen, heisst. ↩
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The “Royaume des Femmes”—kingdom of the Amazons. Gower, in the Confessio Amantis, styles Penthesilea the “Queen of Feminie.” ↩
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Mickle, great. ↩
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If it were not. ↩
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Won, conquered; German gewonnen. ↩
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To plough; Latin, arare. “I have abundant matter for discourse.” The first, and half of the second, of Boccaccio’s twelve books are disposed of in the few lines foregoing. ↩
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Nor will I hinder any of this company. ↩
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Where I left off. ↩
-
Prosperity, wealth. ↩
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Bewailing; German, wehklagen. ↩
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Stint, cease, desist. ↩
-
Seize. ↩
-
Wronged. ↩
-
Aspect, countenance. ↩
-
Pity. ↩
-
Captives or slaves; hence it means generally in wretched circumstances. ↩
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That assures no continuance of prosperous estate. ↩
-
Died; German, sterben, starb. ↩
-
Outrage, insult. ↩
-
Slain. ↩
-
Burnt. ↩
-
Flat on the ground; groveling on the earth. ↩
-
Abased, dejected, consumed away. ↩
-
Raised, took. ↩
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As far as his power went; all that in him lay. ↩
-
Avenge. ↩
-
Delay. ↩
-
Ner or nerre, is used as the comparative of ner, near, instead of nerer. ↩
-
Bright, lovely. ↩
-
Rode. ↩
-
Stamped. ↩
-
The monster, half-man and half-bull, which yearly devoured a tribute of fourteen Athenian youths and maidens, until it was slain by Theseus. ↩
-
Custom. ↩
-
Describe. ↩
-
Lamenting. ↩
-
Burning. ↩
-
List, pleased. ↩
-
Heap; French, tas. ↩
-
Of armous and clothing. ↩
-
Pillagers, strippers; French, pilleurs. ↩
-
Lying side by side. ↩
-
Armour of the same fashion. ↩
-
Born of two sisters. ↩
-
He would take no ransom. ↩
-
For the rest of his life. ↩
-
Set free. ↩
-
Wot not, know not. ↩
-
Decked, dressed. ↩
-
Sunrise. ↩
-
Mingled. ↩
-
Subtle, well-arranged. ↩
-
The donjon was originally the central tower or “keep” of feudal castles; it was employed to detain prisoners of importance. Hence the modern meaning of the word dungeon. ↩
-
Adjoining. ↩
-
Saw. ↩
-
Chance. ↩
-
Stop, start aside. ↩
-
Imprisonment. ↩
-
Wicked; Saturn, in the old astrology, was a most unpropitious star to be born under. ↩
-
Ruin, destruction. ↩
-
Know not whether. ↩
-
Assuredly, truly. ↩
-
Began to look forth. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Despitefully, angrily. ↩
-
By my faith; Spanish, fe; French, foi. ↩
-
I am in no humous for jesting. ↩
-
To die in the pain was a proverbial expression in the French, used as an alternative to enforce a resolution or a promise. Edward III, according to Froissart, declared that he would either succeed in the war against France or die in the pain—“Ou il mourroit en la peine.” It was the fashion in those times to swear oaths of friendship and brotherhood; and hence, though the fashion has long died out, we still speak of “sworn friends.” ↩
-
Loved, dear; German, lieber. ↩
-
Gainsay, deny. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Sooner. ↩
-
Even now thou knowest not. ↩
-
Suppose. ↩
-
Know’st. ↩
-
The saying of the old scholar—Boethius, in his treatise De Consolatione Philosophiae, which Chaucer translated, and from which he has freely borrowed in his poetry. The words are
“Quis legem det amantibus?
Major lex amor est sibi.” -
Head. ↩
-
In spite of his head. ↩
-
Whether the woman he loves be. ↩
-
“Perithous” and “Theseus” must, for the metre, be pronounced as words of four and three syllables respectively—the vowels at the end not being diphthongated, but enunciated separately, as if the words were printed “Perithous,” “Theseus.” The same rule applies in such words as creature and conscience, which are trisyllables. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
Covenant, promise. ↩
-
Moment, short space of time; from Anglo-Saxon, stund; akin to which is German, stunde, an hour. ↩
-
Counsel. ↩
-
In pledge, pawn. ↩
-
It is shaped, decreed, fixed for me. ↩
-
Chance. ↩
-
Die in despair; in want of hope. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
Why do men so often complain of God’s providence? ↩
-
Household; menials, or servants, etc., dwelling together in a house; from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning a crowd. Compare German, menge, multitude. ↩
-
Or slider, slippery. ↩
-
Especially I; I for instance. ↩
-
Thought. ↩
-
The very fetters. The Greeks used καθαρος, the Romans purus, in the same sense. ↩
-
Takest little heed. ↩
-
Manhood, courage. ↩
-
Perish, die. ↩
-
Seized so madly upon his heart. ↩
-
Eternal. ↩
-
Consultation. ↩
-
More by you esteemed. ↩
-
Lie huddled together, sleep. ↩
-
Par Dieu—by God. ↩
-
Restrain his desire. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
Pain, trouble; French, peine. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Stint, pause. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
Knew not. ↩
-
Condition. ↩
-
On peril of his head. ↩
-
In the medieval courts of Love, to which allusion is probably made forty lines before, in the word parlement, or parliament, questions like that here proposed were seriously discussed. ↩
-
Fainted, died. ↩
-
Bereft, taken away, from him. ↩
-
Became, waxed. ↩
-
Arrow. The phrase is equivalent to our “dry as a bone.” ↩
-
Yellow; old spelling falwe, French fauve, tawny-coloured. Some editions have “sallow.” ↩
-
Stinted, stopped. ↩
-
Behaviour, fashion, dress; but, by another reading, the word is gyre, and means fit, trance—from the Latin, gyro, I turn round. ↩
-
Mania, madness. ↩
-
In front of his head in his fantastic cell. “The division of the brain into cells, according to the different sensitive faculties,” says Mr. Wright, “is very ancient, and is found depicted in medieval manuscripts.” In a manuscript in the Harleian Library, it is stated, “Certum est in prora cerebri esse fantasiam, in medio rationem discretionis, in puppi memoriam”—a classification not materially differing from that of modern phrenologists. ↩
-
Dominus, Lord; Spanish, Don. ↩
-
Rod; the caduceus. ↩
-
Heed, notice. ↩
-
Argus was employed by Juno to watch Io with his hundred eyes but he was sent to sleep by the flute of Mercury, who then cut off his head. ↩
-
Go. ↩
-
Fixed, prepared. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Lived in lowly fashion. ↩
-
His secret, his private history. ↩
-
Fortune. ↩
-
Nearest; German, naechste. ↩
-
Order, direct. ↩
-
Nonce, occasion, purpose. ↩
-
Elevate him in rank. ↩
-
Prudently, discreetly. ↩
-
Led. ↩
-
War. ↩
-
Dear. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
Pined, wasted away. ↩
-
Whom love so distresses or afflicts. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
In truth, I am not the man to do it. ↩
-
Settled, decreed. ↩
-
Hippocras, wine made with spices. ↩
-
Narcotics and opiates, or opium. ↩
-
Close at hand was the day, during which he must cast about, or contrive, or conceal himself. ↩
-
To make war; French guerroyer, to molest; hence, perhaps, to worry. ↩
-
Beams, rays. ↩
-
Groves. ↩
-
Object. ↩
-
Groves. ↩
-
Shining, bright. ↩
-
Full little believed it. ↩
-
It is an old true saying. ↩
-
To be always of the same demeanour; on his gaurd. ↩
-
Every day men meet at unexpected time. To “set a steven,” is to fix a time, make an appointment. ↩
-
Saying, speech. ↩
-
Roundelay; song coming round again to the words with which it opened. ↩
-
Old fashions. ↩
-
Now in the treetop, now down in the briars. “Crop and root,” top and bottom, is used to express the perfection or totality of anything. ↩
-
Changeful, full of “gears” or humours, inconstant. ↩
-
Changeful, full of “gears” or humours, inconstant. ↩
-
Sigh. ↩
-
Torment. ↩
-
So wretched and enslaved. ↩
-
Avow, acknowledge; German, bekennen. ↩
-
Undone, ruined. ↩
-
Burningly. ↩
-
My death was decreed before my shirt ws shaped—that is, before any clothes were made for me, before my birth. ↩
-
The value of a tare or a straw. ↩
-
Or quook, from quake, as shook from shake. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Wicked. ↩
-
Caught. ↩
-
Deceived, imposed upon. ↩
-
Escaped. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Wrathful. ↩
-
Were it not. ↩
-
Despite. ↩
-
Wilt challenge, reclaim, her by combat. ↩
-
Knowledge. ↩
-
Armour, arms. ↩
-
Had pledged his faith. ↩
-
Queen; French, reine; Venus is meant. The common reading, however, is regne, reign or power. ↩
-
Thanks to him; with his goodwill. ↩
-
Prepared two suits of armour. ↩
-
Contest. ↩
-
Realm, kingdom. ↩
-
Gap, opening. ↩
-
Grovea. ↩
-
When they recognised each other afar off. ↩
-
Thrust. ↩
-
Think. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
For anger mad. ↩
-
Providence, foreordination. ↩
-
Again. ↩
-
Eye; intelligence, power. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Torment, destruction. ↩
-
Plain. Compare modern English, lawn, and French, Landes—flat, bare marshy tracts in the south of France. ↩
-
Pleased. ↩
-
Fiercely. ↩
-
In a moment, on a sudden. ↩
-
Manner, kind; German muster, sample, model. ↩
-
In the lists, prepared for such single combats between champion and accuser, etc. ↩
-
Wearied, burdened. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
Deceived. ↩
-
Fully, unreservedly. ↩
-
Contracted from “the ilke,” the same; that. ↩
-
Doom, judgement; from the Latin, judicium. ↩
-
Referring to the ruddy colour of the planet, to which was doubtless due the transference to it of the name of the God of War. In his Republic, enumerating the seven planets, Cicero speaks of the propitious and beneficent light of Jupiter: “Tum (fulgor) rutilis horribilisque terris, quem Martium dicitis”—“Then the red glow, horrible to the nations, which you say to be that of Mars.” Boccaccio opens the Theseida by an invocation to “rubicondo Marte.” ↩
-
His anger was appeased. ↩
-
Continually; perhaps another reading, “every one,” is the better. ↩
-
Unpitying, disdainful. ↩
-
Can make no distinction. ↩
-
Alike. ↩
-
Gentle, lenient. ↩
-
Aloud; he had just been speaking to himself. ↩
-
Bless ye him. ↩
-
Avail, conquer. ↩
-
Know. ↩
-
“In spite of their eyes.” ↩
-
The best joke of all—the best of the joke. ↩
-
Behaviour. ↩
-
Long ago; years ago. ↩
-
Distress, torment. ↩
-
Lace, leash, noose, snare: from Latin, laquens. ↩
-
Injure. ↩
-
Completely. ↩
-
What he asked. ↩
-
Will he, nill he. ↩
-
“He must go whistle.” ↩
-
As is decreed, prepared, for him. ↩
-
Reply. ↩
-
Where he pleases. ↩
-
Neither farther nor nearer. ↩
-
Contend for. ↩
-
Promise. ↩
-
May God as surely have mercy on my soul. ↩
-
Opinion. ↩
-
Satisfied. ↩
-
Kind of. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Oftentimes; the Thebans are the rival lovers. ↩
-
Expenditure. ↩
-
Was not. ↩
-
Steps, benches, as in the ancient amphitheatre. ↩
-
Either the building was sixty paces high; or, more probably, there were sixty of the steps or benches. ↩
-
Hindred. ↩
-
Arithmetic. ↩
-
Painter of figures or portraits. ↩
-
Caused. ↩
-
A great amount, heap. ↩
-
Caused. ↩
-
Describe. ↩
-
Sighs. ↩
-
Lamentings. ↩
-
Falsehoods. ↩
-
The flower turnsol, or girasol, which turns with and seems to watch the sun, as a jealous lover his mistress. ↩
-
The Isle of Venus, Cythera, in the Aegean Sea; now called Cerigo: not, as Chaucer’s form of the word might imply, Mount Cithaeron, in the southwest of Boetia, which was appropriated to other deities than Venus—to Jupiter, to Bacchus, and the Muses. ↩
-
Pleasantness. ↩
-
Olden time. ↩
-
Abased into slavery. It need not be said that Chaucer pays slight heed to chronology in this passage, where the deeds of Turnus, the glory of King Solomon, and the fate of Croesus are made memories of the far past in the time of fabulous Theseus, the Minotaur-slayer. ↩
-
Divided power or possession; an old law-term, signifying the maintenance of a person in a lawsuit on the condition of receiving part of the property in dispute, if recovered. ↩
-
Or “guy;” guide, rule. ↩
-
Snare. ↩
-
A kind of dulcimer. ↩
-
Breadth. ↩
-
Interior, chambers. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Gnarled. ↩
-
Groaning noise. ↩
-
Slope. ↩
-
Such a furious voice. ↩
-
Crossways and lengthways. ↩
-
Thick as a tun. ↩
-
Live coal. ↩
-
The plunderers that followed armies, and gave to war a horror all their own. ↩
-
Stable; Anglo-Saxon, scypen; the word “sheppon” still survives in provincial parlance. ↩
-
Contention, discord. ↩
-
Creaking, jarring noise. ↩
-
Hair of the head; the line, perhaps, refers to the deed of Jael. ↩
-
Madness. ↩
-
Outcry. ↩
-
Carrion, corpse. ↩
-
Slashed, cut. ↩
-
Not dead of sickness. ↩
-
The meaning is dubious. We may understand “the dancing ships,” “the ships that hop” on the waves; “steres” being taken as the feminine adjectival termination: or we may, perhaps, read, with one of the manuscripts, “the ships upon the steres”—that is, even as they are being steered, or on the open sea—a more picturesque notion. ↩
-
Devouring; the Germans use fressen to mean eating by animals, essen by men. ↩
-
Through the misfortune of war. ↩
-
Maker of bows. ↩
-
Stithy, anvil. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Julius Caesar. ↩
-
Chariot. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Puella and Rubeus were two figures in geomancy, representing two constellations—the one signifying Mars retrograde, the other Mars direct. ↩
-
In reverence, fear. ↩
-
Or Callisto: daughter of Lycaon, seduced by Jupiter, turned into a bear by Diana, and placed afterwards, with her son, as the Great Bear among the stars. ↩
-
Polestar. ↩
-
Farther; for “farre” or “ferre.” ↩
-
Daphne, daughter of the river-god Peneus, in Thessaly; she was beloved by Apollo, but to avoid his pursuit, she was, at her own prayer, changed into a laurel-tree. ↩
-
Made. ↩
-
Devour. ↩
-
Seated. ↩
-
Quiver. ↩
-
As the goddess of Light, or the goddess who brings to light, Diana—as well as Juno—was invoked by women in childbirth: so Horace, Odes III 22, says:—
“Montium custos nemorumque, Virgo,
Quae laborantes utero puellas
Ter vocata audis adimisque leto, Diva triformis.” -
In every part: deal corresponds to the German theil, a portion. ↩
-
Cease speaking. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
Set in array; contest. ↩
-
Surely; German, sicher; Scotch, sikkar, certain. When Robert Bruce had escaped from England to assume the Scottish crown, he stabbed Comyn before the altar at Dumfries; and, emerging from the church, was asked by his friend Kirkpatrick if he had slain the traitor. “I doubt it,” said Bruce. “Doubt,” cried Kirkpatrick. “I’ll mak sikkar;” and he rushed into the church, and despatched Comyn with repeated thrusts of his dagger. ↩
-
Believed. ↩
-
Since. ↩
-
Never since the world began was there assembled from every part of the earth, in proportion to the smallness of the number, such a brave and noble company of knights. ↩
-
With his goodwill; thanks to his own efforts. ↩
-
Surpassing. ↩
-
Pleasing. ↩
-
Short doublet. ↩
-
Back and front armour. ↩
-
Prussian. ↩
-
Well-grieved; like Homer’s εϋκνημιδες Αχαιοι. ↩
-
Fashion. ↩
-
Combed; the word survives in unkempt. ↩
-
Fashion. ↩
-
Age. ↩
-
As thick as a man’s arm. ↩
-
Greyhounds, mastiffs; from the Spanish word alano, signifying a mastiff. ↩
-
Rings. ↩
-
Retinue, company. ↩
-
Bay horse. ↩
-
Diversified with flourishes or figures. ↩
-
A kind of silk. ↩
-
Trimmed. ↩
-
Brimful, covered with. ↩
-
His curled hair ran down into ringlets. ↩
-
Pale yellow colour. ↩
-
A few freckles sprinkled on his face. ↩
-
Somewhat mixed; German, mengen, to mix. ↩
-
Cast about his eyes. ↩
-
Reckon; as we now speak of “casting a sum.” ↩
-
All and sundry. ↩
-
The time of early prayers, between six and nine in the morning. ↩
-
Lodged; whence inn. ↩
-
Give them pleasure, make them comfortable. ↩
-
Think. ↩
-
Improve. ↩
-
Lie. ↩
-
Please. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Go. ↩
-
Worthy. ↩
-
In the hour of the day (two hours before daybreak) which after the astrological system that divided the twenty-four among the seven ruling planets, was under the influence of Venus. ↩
-
Demeanour. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Adonis, a beautiful youth beloved of Venus, whose death by the tusk of a boar she deeply mourned. ↩
-
Take pity on. ↩
-
Certainly, truly; German, gewiss. ↩
-
Vow, promise. ↩
-
Care not to boast of feats of arms. ↩
-
Praise, esteem for valour. ↩
-
Whether. ↩
-
Make, kindle. ↩
-
Although I tell not now. ↩
-
Understood. ↩
-
Was not immediately vouchsafed. ↩
-
In the third planetary hour; Palamon had gone forth in the hour of Venus, two hours before daybreak; the hour of Mercury intervened; the third hour was that of Luna, or Diana. “Unequal” refers to the astrological division of day and night, whatever their duration, into twelve parts, which of necessity varied in length with the season. ↩
-
Led. ↩
-
Draping; hence the word smock; smokless, in Chaucer, means naked. ↩
-
Gentle. ↩
-
Except. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
Do as he will. ↩
-
Of the species of oak which Pliny, in his Natural History, calls “cerrus.” ↩
-
Statius, the Roman who embodied in the twelve books of his Thebaid the ancient legends connected with the war of the seven against Thebes. ↩
-
Knowest. ↩
-
Earned; suffered from. ↩
-
Knowest. ↩
-
Field sports. ↩
-
Diana was Luna in heaven, Diana on earth, and Hecate in hell; hence the direction of the eyes of her statue to “Pluto’s dark region.” Her statue was set up where three ways met, so that with a different face she looked down each of the three; from which she was called Trivia. See the quotation from Horace, note 592. ↩
-
Quenched. ↩
-
Strange. ↩
-
Went out and revived. ↩
-
Cease. ↩
-
Those. ↩
-
Burn. ↩
-
Hence. ↩
-
Quiver. ↩
-
To what does this amount? ↩
-
Nearest. ↩
-
Imploring, pious. ↩
-
Realms. ↩
-
Held. ↩
-
Sending fortune at thy pleasure. ↩
-
Pity my anguish. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Didst enjoy; Latin, utor. ↩
-
Thou wert unlucky. ↩
-
Net, snare; the invisible toils in which Hephaestus caught Ares and the faithless Aphrodite, and exposed them to the “inextinguishable laughter” of Olympus. ↩
-
Lying. ↩
-
Pity. ↩
-
Ignorant, simple. ↩
-
Believe. ↩
-
Causeth. ↩
-
Float, swim. ↩
-
Promise, vouchsafe. ↩
-
Cause. ↩
-
Hang. ↩
-
The offence, indignity. ↩
-
Ended. ↩
-
Arose from the ground. ↩
-
Heaved, lifted. ↩
-
Glad. ↩
-
That concession of Arcite’s prayer. ↩
-
Stop. ↩
-
Here, as in “Mars the Red” we have the person of the deity endowed with the supposed quality of the planet called after his name. ↩
-
Age. ↩
-
Experience. ↩
-
Surpass in counsel; outwit. ↩
-
Orbit; the astrologers ascribed great power to Saturn, and predicted “much debate” under his ascendancy; hence it was “against his kind” to compose the heavenly strife. ↩
-
Cottage, cell. ↩
-
Discontent. ↩
-
Full. ↩
-
Contrivances, plots. ↩
-
Promised. ↩
-
Grandfather; French aieul. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
Cease speaking. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Armour. ↩
-
Train, retinue. ↩
-
Rare. ↩
-
Embroidering. ↩
-
Headpieces, helmets; from the French teste, tete, head. ↩
-
Trappings. ↩
-
Ornamental garb; French, parer, to deck. ↩
-
Rubbing, polishing; Anglo-Saxon gnidan, to rub. ↩
-
Thongs; compare lanyards. ↩
-
Servants. ↩
-
As close as they can walk. ↩
-
Drums, used in the cavalry; Boccaccio’s word is nachere. ↩
-
Conversation. ↩
-
Conjecturing. ↩
-
Bald. ↩
-
Double-headed axe; Latin, bipennis. ↩
-
Conjecturing. ↩
-
Alike. ↩
-
Fetched, brought. ↩
-
Behest, command. ↩
-
Discourse. ↩
-
“Ho! Ho!” to command attention; like “Oyez,” the call for silence in law-courts or before proclamations. ↩
-
Done. ↩
-
Arrange, contrive. ↩
-
Kind of. ↩
-
Fence, thrust. ↩
-
Defend. ↩
-
In peril of distress. ↩
-
Happen. ↩
-
His equal, match. ↩
-
Sound. ↩
-
In orderly array. ↩
-
Serge, woollen cloth. ↩
-
First quarter, between six and nine a.m. ↩
-
Same, selfsame; German, derselbe. ↩
-
Bold demeanour. ↩
-
Equal. ↩
-
Arrange themselves in two ranks and rows. ↩
-
Fraud. ↩
-
Spurring, riding. ↩
-
Steadily. ↩
-
Concave part of the breast, where the lower ribs join the cartilago ensiformis. ↩
-
Strike in pieces; “to” before a verb implies extraordinary violence in the action denoted. ↩
-
Burst, shatter. ↩
-
Push his way; “he” refers impersonally to any of the combatants. ↩
-
Thrusteth. ↩
-
Afterwards taken. ↩
-
Covenant. ↩
-
Caused. ↩
-
Pleased. ↩
-
Those. ↩
-
Twice. ↩
-
Galapha, in Mauritania. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Seize, assail. ↩
-
By the bargain, that whoever was brought to the atake, or barrier, should be out of the fight. ↩
-
Fell. ↩
-
Contented. ↩
-
Lord. ↩
-
Keep silence. ↩
-
Rides from end to end. ↩
-
Generally speaking. ↩
-
Countenance, outward show. ↩
-
Stumble. ↩
-
Care. ↩
-
Pitched him on the top. ↩
-
Cut. ↩
-
Quickly; belive is still used in Scotland to mean by and by, immediately. ↩
-
Befallen. ↩
-
Discourage. ↩
-
Glad. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Pierced. ↩
-
The herb sage; Latin, salvia. ↩
-
Chance, accident. ↩
-
Dragged, hurried. ↩
-
Servants. ↩
-
Imputed to him as no disgrace. ↩
-
Call it cowardice. ↩
-
Caused to be proclaimed. ↩
-
Stop. ↩
-
Prize, merit. ↩
-
Day’s journey. ↩
-
Surgical skill. ↩
-
Left in his body. ↩
-
Neither opening veins nor cupping; French, ventouser, to cup. ↩
-
Sinew, muscle. ↩
-
Destroyed. ↩
-
Availeth. ↩
-
Work. ↩
-
Church. ↩
-
Spirit. ↩
-
The severance. ↩
-
So surely guide my soul. ↩
-
Humility. ↩
-
Overtaken, overcome. ↩
-
Gone. ↩
-
Grew him. ↩
-
Went whither I cannot tell you, as I was not there. ↩
-
Refrain. Tyrwhitt thinks that Chaucer is sneering at Boccacio’s pompous account of the passage of Arcite’s soul to heaven. Up to this point, the description of the death-scene is taken literally from the Theseida. ↩
-
Diviner; or divine. ↩
-
Guide. ↩
-
Gone. ↩
-
Rank, condition. ↩
-
Care; Latin, cura. ↩
-
Deliberates. ↩
-
Selfsame. ↩
-
A funeral pyre. ↩
-
Caused orders straightway to be given. ↩
-
Row. ↩
-
Logs, pieces. ↩
-
Well arranged to burn. ↩
-
Run. ↩
-
With face uncovered. ↩
-
Made by the people who saw him lie in state. ↩
-
With neglected beard, and rough hair strewn with ashes. “Flotery” is the general reading; but “sluttery” seems to be more in keeping with the picture of abandonment to grief. ↩
-
Un order that. ↩
-
Turkish. ↩
-
Burnished. ↩
-
Quiver. ↩
-
They ride out slowly—at a foot pace—with sorrowful air. ↩
-
Main street; so Froissart speaks of “le souverain carrefour.” ↩
-
Covered, hid; Anglo-Saxon, wrigan, to veil. ↩
-
Custom. ↩
-
Preparation. ↩
-
Reached. ↩
-
Stretched. ↩
-
Were called. ↩
-
Aspen. ↩
-
Linden, lime. ↩
-
The forest deities. ↩
-
Dwelt. ↩
-
Terrified. ↩
-
Laid. ↩
-
Straw. ↩
-
Spices. ↩
-
Precious stones; French, pierreries. ↩
-
Applied the funeral torch. The “guise” was, among the ancients, for the nearest relative of the deceased to do this, with averted face. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Procession. It was the custom for soldiers to march thrice around the funeral pile of an emperor or general; “on the left hand” is added, in reference to the belief that the left hand was propitious—the Roman augur turning his face southward, and so placing on his left hand the east, whence good omens came. With the Greeks, however, their augurs facing the north, it was just the contrary. The confusion, frequent in classical writers, is complicated here by the fact that Chaucer’s description of the funeral of Arcite is taken from Statius’ Thebaid—from a Roman’s account of a Greek solemnity. ↩
-
Watching by the remains of the dead; from Anglo-Saxon, lice, a corpse; German, leichnam. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Funeral games. ↩
-
Care. ↩
-
In any danger, contest. ↩
-
Come. ↩
-
Ended. ↩
-
Assembly for consultation. ↩
-
Cases, incidents. ↩
-
Caused. ↩
-
Unknown. ↩
-
In haste. ↩
-
Seated. ↩
-
Waited. ↩
-
He fixed his eyes where it pleased him. ↩
-
Bound. ↩
-
Chaucer here borrows from Boethius, who says:
“Hanc rerum seriem ligat,
Terras ac pelagus regens,
Et coelo imperitans, amor.” -
Pass. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Sentiment, opinion. ↩
-
This same. ↩
-
No part or piece. ↩
-
Providence; “He” is the “first mover.” ↩
-
Arranged, ordered. ↩
-
Walk. ↩
-
Dry. ↩
-
Go, disappear. ↩
-
The same. ↩
-
Escape, avoid. ↩
-
Murmurs at. ↩
-
Direct, guide. ↩
-
Certain. ↩
-
Himself. ↩
-
Grown pale, decayed, by old age. ↩
-
Valour, prowess, service. ↩
-
Never a jot, whit. ↩
-
Hurt. ↩
-
Cannot control or amend their desires. ↩
-
Series; string of remarks. ↩
-
Counsel. ↩
-
Have pity. ↩
-
Make display. ↩
-
By God. ↩
-
Believe me. ↩
-
Ought to be rightly directed; oweth is the present tense, as ought is the past, of owe. ↩
-
Health; German, heil. ↩
-
Cause of danger, vexation. ↩
-
Recorded. ↩
-
All the gentler members of the company, in especial. ↩
-
Prosper. ↩
-
The budget is opened. ↩
-
Know how. ↩
-
Match, requite. ↩
-
Was all pale with drunkenness. ↩
-
Hardly, with difficulty. ↩
-
Unveil, uncover. ↩
-
Await, give way to. ↩
-
Pilate, an unpopular personage in the mystery-plays of the middle ages, was probably represented as having a gruff, harsh voice. ↩
-
Occasion. ↩
-
Match, requite. ↩
-
Dear. ↩
-
Prudently, civilly. ↩
-
Devil take thee! an oath of impatience. ↩
-
Blame; in Scotland, “to bear the wyte,” is to bear the blame. ↩
-
Befooled him. ↩
-
Hold thy tongue; stop thy noisy talk, which is like the clapper of thy mill. ↩
-
Injure, abuse. ↩
-
Would not. ↩
-
Judge. ↩
-
Abundance. ↩
-
Boorish, rude. ↩
-
Falsify. ↩
-
Historical, true things. ↩
-
Ribald, rough jesting tale. ↩
-
Consider; be advised. ↩
-
Jest, fun. ↩
-
Miser; perhaps from Anglo-Saxon, gnafan, to gnaw. ↩
-
Took to boarders. ↩
-
Knew. ↩
-
Determine. ↩
-
Gentle, handsome. ↩
-
Secret, earnest. ↩
-
Neatly decked. ↩
-
Sweet. ↩
-
Valerian, setwall. ↩
-
The book of Ptolemy the astronomer, which formed the canon of astrological science in the middle ages. ↩
-
Astrelagour, astrelabore; a mathematical instrument for taking the altitude of the sun or stars. ↩
-
Augrim is a corruption of algorithm, the Arabian term for numeration; “augrim stones,” therefore were probably marked with numerals, and used as counters. ↩
-
Laid, set. ↩
-
Coarse cloth. ↩
-
The Angel’s salutation to Mary; Luke 1:28. It was the “Ave Maria” of the Catholic Church service. ↩
-
Attending to his friends, and providing for the cost of his lodging. ↩
-
Perhaps. ↩
-
Though Chaucer may have referred to the famous Censor, more probably the reference is merely to the Moral Distichs, which go under his name, though written after his time; and in a supplement to which the quoted passage may be found. ↩
-
Age. ↩
-
Slim, neat. ↩
-
Girdle, with silk stripes. ↩
-
Apron; from Anglo-Saxon barme, bosom or lap. ↩
-
Loins. ↩
-
Plait, fold. ↩
-
Not the underdress, but the robe or gown. ↩
-
Strings. ↩
-
Headgear, kerchief; from French, envelopper, to wrap up. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
Lascivious, liquorish. ↩
-
Arched. ↩
-
Pleasant to look upon. ↩
-
Young pear-tree. ↩
-
Brass, latten, in the shape of pearls. ↩
-
Could fancy, think of. ↩
-
Puppet; but chiefly; young wench. ↩
-
The nobles new coined in the Tower, where was the Mint; nobles were gold coins of especial purity and brightness; “Ex auro nobilissimi, unde nobilis vocatus,” says Vossius. ↩
-
Shrill, lively; German, gern, willingly, cheerfully. ↩
-
Barn. ↩
-
In addition to all this. ↩
-
Romp. ↩
-
Bragget, a sweet drink made of honey, spices, etc. In some parts of the country, a drink made from honeycomb, after the honey is extracted, is still called “bragwort.” ↩
-
Metheglin, mead. ↩
-
Wanton, skittish. ↩
-
Primrose. ↩
-
A fond term, like “my duck”; from Anglo-Saxon, piga, a young maid; but Tyrwhitt associates it with the Latin, ocellus, little eye, a fondling term, and suggests that the pigs-eye, which is very small, was applied in the same sense. Davenport and Butler both use the word “pigsnie,” the first for “darling,” the second literally for “eye”; and Bishop Gardner, “On True Obedience,” in his address to the reader, says: “How softly she was wont to chirpe him under the chin, and kiss him; how prettily she could talk to him (how doth my sweet heart, what saith now pig’s-eye).” ↩
-
Lying. ↩
-
Again. ↩
-
Courteous. ↩
-
Toy; play the rogue. ↩
-
A once well-known abbey near Oxford. ↩
-
Assuredly. ↩
-
Earnest, cruel. ↩
-
My mistress. ↩
-
Die, perish. ↩
-
Travise; a frame in which unruly horses were shod. ↩
-
Faith. ↩
-
Haro! was an old Norman cry for redress or aid. The “Clameur de Haro” was lately raised, under peculiar circumstances, as the prelude to a legal protest, in Jersey. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Secret. ↩
-
Ill spent his time. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Whit. ↩
-
Work. ↩
-
Stretched. ↩
-
Head of hair. ↩
-
Complexion. ↩
-
His shoes were ornamented like the windows of St. Paul’s, especially like the old rose-window. ↩
-
Daintily, neatly. ↩
-
A gown girt around the waist. ↩
-
Sky colour. ↩
-
Twig, bush; German, reis, a twig; reisig, a copse. ↩
-
Then; Chaucer satirises the dancing of Oxford as he did the French of Stratford at Bow. See note 43. ↩
-
Rebeck, a kind of fiddle. ↩
-
Treble. ↩
-
Guitar. ↩
-
Mirth, sport. ↩
-
Gay, licentious girl that served in a tavern. ↩
-
Somewhat squeamish. ↩
-
Burning incense for. ↩
-
Above all. ↩
-
Have soon caught. ↩
-
Jolly, joyous. ↩
-
Stationed himself. ↩
-
Projecting or bow window, whence it was possible shoot at any one approaching the door. ↩
-
Take pity. ↩
-
Chamber. ↩
-
Better. ↩
-
By presents and by agents, pimping, or brokerage. ↩
-
Quavering. ↩
-
A drink made with wine, honey, and spices. ↩
-
Cakes. ↩
-
Red-hot coal. ↩
-
Because she was town-bred, he offered wealth, or money reward, for her love. ↩
-
Parish-clerks, like Absolon, had leading parts in the mysteries or religious plays; Herod was one of these parts, which may have been an object of competition among the amateurs of the period. ↩
-
“May go whistle.” ↩
-
Jest. ↩
-
The cunning one near at hand oft makes the loving one afar off to be odious. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Devise a statagem. ↩
-
Knew. ↩
-
Believed. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Till Sunday evening. ↩
-
Wondered greatly. ↩
-
Afraid, in dread. ↩
-
Heaven forefend! ↩
-
Ticklish, fickle, uncertain. ↩
-
Surely. ↩
-
Work. ↩
-
Servant. ↩
-
Call. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Where. ↩
-
Looked; keek is still used in some parts in the sense of peep. ↩
-
Same. ↩
-
To bless, cross himself. ↩
-
Saint Frideswide was the patroness of a considerable priory at Oxford, and held there in high repute. ↩
-
Knows. ↩
-
Madness. ↩
-
Secret counsel. ↩
-
Unlearned. ↩
-
Knows no more than his “credo.” ↩
-
Watch, keep watch on. ↩
-
Till he fell into a marl-pit. Plato, in his Theatetus, tells this story of Thales; but it has since appeared in many other forms. ↩
-
I am very sorry for. ↩
-
Chidden, rated, for his devotion to study. ↩
-
Heave up the door by a lever beneath. ↩
-
Apply himself. ↩
-
Lock; from the Anglo-Saxon, haepsian, to lock, fasten; German, hespe. ↩
-
Thought. ↩
-
Caught. ↩
-
Angrily. ↩
-
Protect thee, by signing the sign of the Cross. ↩
-
Witches, who were not of the feminine gender only. ↩
-
In due form. ↩
-
Corners, parts. ↩
-
Dwellest. ↩
-
Forthwith, immediately. ↩
-
Labour. ↩
-
Shut. ↩
-
Loved. ↩
-
Betray. ↩
-
Lost; German, verloren. ↩
-
Betray. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Talker. ↩
-
Fond of prating. ↩
-
Wasted or subdued hell: in the middle ages, some very active exploits against the prince of darkness and his powers were ascribed by the monkish tale-tellers to the saviour after he had “descended into Hell.” ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Drenched, drowned. ↩
-
Drown. ↩
-
Learned and counsel. ↩
-
Repent. ↩
-
Should perish. ↩
-
Long since. ↩
-
According to the old mysteries, Noah’s wife refused to come into the ark, and bade her husband row forth and get him a new wife, because he was leaving her gossips in the town to drown. Shem and his brothers got her shipped by main force; and Noah, coming forward to welcome her, was greeted with a box on the ear. ↩
-
He would have given all his black wethers, if she had had an ark to herself. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
House. ↩
-
Brewing-tub. ↩
-
Slacken, abate. ↩
-
Early forenoon. ↩
-
Servant. ↩
-
Unless thou be out of thy wits. ↩
-
Foresight, providence. ↩
-
Call out. ↩
-
Same. ↩
-
Command. ↩
-
Asunder. ↩
-
What all the strange contrivance meant. ↩
-
Pretended to fear that she would die. ↩
-
Drown. ↩
-
A dismal countenance. ↩
-
Groaning. ↩
-
Rungs and uprights, or sides. ↩
-
Beams, joists. ↩
-
Jug, bottle. ↩
-
His servant and serving-maid. ↩
-
Business. ↩
-
Prepared. ↩
-
As long as it might take to walk a furlong. ↩
-
Clum, like mum, a note of silence; but otherwise explained as the humming sound made in repeating prayers; from the Anglo-Saxon, clumian, to mutter, speak in an undertone, keep silence. ↩
-
Eight in the evening, when, by the law of William the Conqueror, all people were, on ringing of a bell, to extinguish fire and candle, and go to rest; hence the word curfew, from French, couvre-feu, cover-fire. ↩
-
Spirit. ↩
-
Then he snored, for his head lay awry. ↩
-
Where. ↩
-
Matins, or morning song, at three in the morning. ↩
-
Occasion. ↩
-
Cloistered monk. ↩
-
Know not. ↩
-
Work. ↩
-
Say certainly. ↩
-
Sure enough. ↩
-
Chamber wall; the window, it has been said, projected over the door. ↩
-
By my faith. ↩
-
Dreamt. ↩
-
With exact care. ↩
-
Grains of Paris, or Paradise; a favourite spice. ↩
-
Some sweet herb: another reading, however, is “a true love-knot,” which may have been of the nature of a charm. ↩
-
Reached. ↩
-
Low tone. ↩
-
Cinnamon. ↩
-
Mistress. ↩
-
Wherever. ↩
-
Faint, swelter; hence sultry. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
Come ba, or kiss, me. ↩
-
Twenty devils fly away with thee! ↩
-
Better. ↩
-
In a low voice. The two lines within brackets are not in most of the editions: they are taken from Urry; whether he supplied them or not, they serve the purpose of a necessary explanation. ↩
-
Favour. ↩
-
Neither better nor worse befell. ↩
-
Every word. ↩
-
Requite, pay off, be even with. ↩
-
Rubbeth; French, frotter. ↩
-
Rather. ↩
-
Revenged: from wreak, awreak. ↩
-
Deceived, befooled. ↩
-
Quenched. ↩
-
Cared not a rush: “kers” is the modern cress. ↩
-
Master. ↩
-
Cross. ↩
-
Early. ↩
-
As applied to a young woman of light manners, this euphemistic phrase has enjoyed a wonderful vitality. ↩
-
Urry reads “meritote,” and explains it from Spelman as a game in which children made themselves giddy by whirling on ropes. In French, virer means to turn; and the explanation may, therefore, suit either reading. In modern slang parlance, Gerveis would probably have said, “on the rampage,” or “on the swing”—not very far from Spelman’s rendering. ↩
-
Recked, cared. ↩
-
Gave. ↩
-
A proverbial saying: he was playing a deeper game, had more serious business on hand. ↩
-
Something to do. ↩
-
Bag. ↩
-
Handle. ↩
-
Before; German, eher. ↩
-
Dear, love. ↩
-
Engraved. ↩
-
Improve the jest. ↩
-
Peal, clap. ↩
-
Blinded. ↩
-
Breech. ↩
-
Thought. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Found nothing to stop him. ↩
-
Sill of the door, threshold; French, seuil, Latin, solum, the ground. ↩
-
Stare. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Terrified. ↩
-
Peep, look. ↩
-
Jest. ↩
-
Dear. ↩
-
Enjoyed. ↩
-
Care. ↩
-
Company. ↩
-
Were diverted. ↩
-
Left. ↩
-
Murmur. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
Or “so the ik,” so may I thrive. ↩
-
Match, recompense. ↩
-
Dimming his eye; playing off a joke on him. ↩
-
Age takes away my zest for drollery. ↩
-
Head. ↩
-
Grown mouldy. ↩
-
Medlar. ↩
-
Same. ↩
-
On the ground or in the straw. ↩
-
Dance. ↩
-
Continually. ↩
-
Smoke. “Ev’n in our ashes live their wonted fires.” ↩
-
Glowing coals (of passion). ↩
-
Relate, describe. ↩
-
Covetousness. ↩
-
Unwieldy. ↩
-
A wanton humour, a relish for pleasure. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
The rim of a barrel where the staves project beyond the head. ↩
-
Long. ↩
-
Dotage is all that is left them; that is, they can only dwell fondly, dote, on the past. ↩
-
Cobbler; Scottice, sutor; from Latin, suere, to sew. ↩
-
Surgeon. “Ex sutore medicus” and “ex sutore nauclerus”—seaman or pilot—were both proverbial expressions in the Middle Ages. ↩
-
Halfway between prime and tierce; about half-past seven in the morning. ↩
-
Like “set their caps;” see note 201. Hove or houfe, means “hood;” and the phrase signifies to be even with, outwit. ↩
-
To repel force by force. ↩
-
The illustration of the mote and the beam, from Matthew. ↩
-
The incidents of this tale were much relished in the Middle Ages, and are found under various forms. Boccaccio has told them in the ninth day of his Decameron. ↩
-
Cambridge. ↩
-
Prepare. ↩
-
Shoot. ↩
-
Poniard. ↩
-
Dagger. ↩
-
Flat; French camuse, snub-nose. ↩
-
Peeled, bald. ↩
-
A brawler, bully, in full or open market. ↩
-
Lay. ↩
-
Suffer the penalty. ↩
-
Called “Disdainful Simkin,” or little Simon. ↩
-
Magpie. ↩
-
Hood, or headgear. ↩
-
Gown or coat; French jupe. ↩
-
Use freedom. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Always. ↩
-
So behave themselves. ↩
-
Dirty. ↩
-
Nasty; akin to dung. ↩
-
Ill-nature. ↩
-
Scandal, abusive speech. ↩
-
Should not judge her hardly. ↩
-
Nurturing, education. ↩
-
Doy. ↩
-
Because of her beauty. ↩
-
He made it matter of consequence or difficulty. ↩
-
Spent. ↩
-
Toll taken for grinding; custom. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
The hall or college at Cambridge with the gallery or upper storey; supposed to have been Clare Hall. ↩
-
Suddenly. ↩
-
Steward; provisioner of the hall. ↩
-
Thought certainly. ↩
-
Ado. ↩
-
Cared the miller not a rush. ↩
-
Talked big. ↩
-
Headstrong, wild-brained; French, entete. ↩
-
Short time. ↩
-
Boldly. ↩
-
Take away. ↩
-
Tyrwhitt points to Anstruther, in Fife: Mr. Wright to the Vale of Langstroth, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Chaucer has given the scholars a dialect that may have belonged to either district, although it more immediately suggests the more northern of the two. ↩
-
Equal. ↩
-
Servant. ↩
-
Expect. ↩
-
Grinders, cheek-teeth; Anglo-Saxon, wang, the cheek; German, wange. ↩
-
Amusement. ↩
-
Simplicity. ↩
-
Think. ↩
-
Odd little tricks. ↩
-
Bran. ↩
-
In the Cento Novelle Antiche, the story is told of a mule, which pretends that his name is written on the bottom of his hind foot. The wolf attempts to read it, the mule kills him with a kick in the forehead; and the fox, looking on, remarks that “every man of letters is not wise.” A similar story is told in “Reynard the Fox.” ↩
-
An arbour; Anglo-Saxon, lefe-setl, leafy seat. ↩
-
Business; German, noth, necessity. ↩
-
Jested. ↩
-
Lost. ↩
-
Careful watch over the corn. ↩
-
Run. ↩
-
Ill luck, a curse. ↩
-
Swift. ↩
-
Knows. ↩
-
Both; Scottice, baith. ↩
-
Horse; French, cheval; Italian, cavallo, from Latin, cavallus. ↩
-
Barn. ↩
-
Fool. ↩
-
Cheat a scholar; French, faire la barbe; and Boccaccio uses the proverb in the same sense. ↩
-
Turn. ↩
-
Catch, intercept; Scottice, kep. ↩
-
Mockery. ↩
-
Fool. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
The bay horse. ↩
-
Found. ↩
-
Proceed on their way. ↩
-
Lodging and entertainment. ↩
-
Payment. ↩
-
Fashion. ↩
-
Gar is Scotch for cause; some editions read, however, “get us some.” ↩
-
Allure. ↩
-
Blankets, coverlets, made at Chalons. ↩
-
Side by side. ↩
-
Roomier lodging. ↩
-
Drunk, and without his wits about him. ↩
-
Hiccuped. ↩
-
Inarticulate sound accompanying bodily exertion. ↩
-
Catarrh. ↩
-
Jolly. ↩
-
Pitcher, cruse; Anglo-Saxon, crocca; German, krug; hence crockery. ↩
-
Nightshade, solanum somniferum, given to cause sleep. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
Heed. ↩
-
Bass; burden of a song. It originally means the drone of a bagpipe; French, bourdon. ↩
-
Snoring. ↩
-
Evensong in the church service; chorus. ↩
-
Among. ↩
-
Strange. In Scotland, a ferlie is an unwonted or remarkable sight. ↩
-
Comes to me. ↩
-
Matter. ↩
-
Enjoy carnally. ↩
-
Some satisfaction, pleasure, has law provided. ↩
-
Have a care. ↩
-
Awaked. ↩
-
Mischief. ↩
-
Wail. ↩
-
Trick, befooling. ↩
-
Adventured. ↩
-
A coward, blockhead. ↩
-
A term of contempt, probably borrowed from the kitchen; a cook, in base Latin, being termed coquinarius. Compare French coquin, rascal. ↩
-
The cowardly is unlucky; “nothing venture, nothing have;” German, unselig, unhappy. ↩
-
Took. ↩
-
Left off. ↩
-
Had no suspicion. ↩
-
Long. ↩
-
Laboured. ↩
-
Health. ↩
-
Sweetheart; the word was used of either sex. ↩
-
Giddy, tottering, with my hard work. ↩
-
Thought. ↩
-
Afraid. ↩
-
Disgrace, do indignity to. ↩
-
The protuberance in the throat, called “Adam’s apple.” ↩
-
Seized. ↩
-
Angrily. ↩
-
Stumbled. ↩
-
While. ↩
-
Woke. ↩
-
A common adjuration at that time; the cross or rood of the priory of Bromholm, in Norfolk, was said to contain part of the real cross and therefore held in high esteem. ↩
-
Apartment. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
Supposed. ↩
-
Nightcap. ↩
-
Nearer and nearer. ↩
-
Bald. ↩
-
Make ready, dress. ↩
-
Every bit. ↩
-
Also. ↩
-
It behoves; from the Anglo-Saxon, thearflian, to be obliged. ↩
-
Gain; obtain good. ↩
-
Made myself quits with, paid off. ↩
-
Lodging. ↩
-
A man should take good heed. ↩
-
Since my name was. ↩
-
Better handled. ↩
-
Trick. ↩
-
Stop. ↩
-
An article of cookery. ↩
-
Be not angry with my jesting. ↩
-
True jest no jest. ↩
-
Else we part company. ↩
-
Innkeeper. ↩
-
Assuredly. It may be remembered that each pilgrim was bound to tell two stories; one on the way to Canterbury, the other returning. ↩
-
French, fit bonne mine; put on a pleasant countenance. ↩
-
Lively, gay. ↩
-
Shade, grove. ↩
-
Daintily. ↩
-
Cheapside, where jousts were sometimes held, and which was the great scene of city revels and processions. ↩
-
Company of fellows like himself. ↩
-
Made appointment. ↩
-
And, moreover, he spent money liberally in places where he could do so without being observed. ↩
-
Wares, merchandise. ↩
-
Suffer for. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Guitar or rebeck. ↩
-
At variance. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Rebuked. ↩
-
Certificate of completion of his apprenticeship. ↩
-
Pass, go. ↩
-
Corrupt. ↩
-
What he loved, his desire. ↩
-
Refrain. ↩
-
The precise meaning of the word is unknown, but it is doubtless included in the cant term “pal.” ↩
-
Suck, consume, spend. ↩
-
Comrade. ↩
-
For the sake of appearances. ↩
-
Prostituted herself. ↩
-
The “Cook’s Tale” is unfinished in all the manuscripts; but in some, of minor authority, the Cook is made to break off his tale, because “it is so foul,” and to tell the story of Gamelyn, on which Shakespeare’s As You Like It is founded. The story is not Chaucer’s, and is different in metre, and inferior in composition to the Tales. It is supposed that Chaucer expunged the “Cook’s Tale” for the same reason that made him on his deathbed lament that he had written so much “ribaldry.” ↩
-
Knowledge. ↩
-
Pulled; the word is an obsolete past tense from pluck. ↩
-
Company. ↩
-
Destroys. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
A proverbial saying; which, however, had obstained fresh point from the “Reeve’s Tale,” to which the Host doubtless refers. ↩
-
According to our bargain. ↩
-
Keep your promise. ↩
-
Duty. ↩
-
It is characteristic that the somewhat pompous Sergeant of Law should couch his assent in the semi-barbarous French, then familiar in law procedure. ↩
-
Worthy. ↩
-
Understands but imperfectly. ↩
-
Dear. ↩
-
Made mention of. ↩
-
In the introduction to the poem called “The Dream of Chaucer;” or “The Book of the Duchess.” It relates to the death of Blanche, the wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the poet’s patron, and afterwards his connection by marriage. ↩
-
Now called “The Legend of Good Women.” The names of eight ladies mentioned here are not in the “Legend” as it has come down to us; while those of two ladies in the “legend”—Cleopatra and Philomela—are her omitted. ↩
-
Neck. ↩
-
That wicked. ↩
-
Deliberately, advisedly. ↩
-
Unnatural. ↩
-
Not the Muses, who had their surname from the place near Mount Olympus where the Thracians first worshipped them; but the nine daughters of Pierus, king of Macedonia, whom he called the nine Muses, and who, being conquered in a contest with the genuine sisterhood, were changed into birds. ↩
-
Ovid’s. ↩
-
Hawbuck, country lout; the common proverbial phrase, “to put a rogue above a gentleman,” may throw light on the reading here, which is difficult. ↩
-
This tale is believed by Tyrwhitt to have been taken, with no material change, from the Confessio Amantis of John Gower, who was contemporary with Chaucer, though somewhat his senior. In the prologue, the references to the stories of Canace, and of Apollonius Tyrius, seem to be an attack on Gower, who had given these tales in his book; whence Tyrwhitt concludes that the friendship between the two poets suffered some interruption in the latter part of their lives. Gower was not the inventor of the story, which he found in old French romances, and it is not improbable that Chaucer may have gone to the same source as Gower, though the latter undoubtedly led the way. ↩
-
Expense. ↩
-
Allots amiss. ↩
-
Blamest. ↩
-
Burn in the fire. ↩
-
That same neighbour of thine. ↩
-
Wicked, evil. ↩
-
Point. ↩
-
Two aces. ↩
-
Six-five. ↩
-
Kingdoms. ↩
-
Contention, war. ↩
-
Barren, empty. ↩
-
Grave, steadfast. ↩
-
To distant parts. ↩
-
Wares. ↩
-
Cheap, advantageous. ↩
-
To “have dainty,” is to take pleasure in or esteem a thing. ↩
-
Deal. ↩
-
Determined, prepared. ↩
-
Trading. ↩
-
Lodging. ↩
-
Relate. ↩
-
Save; look on with favour. ↩
-
Childishness, immaturity. ↩
-
Liberality for deeds of charity. ↩
-
To our discourse, tale; French, propos. ↩
-
Caused to be laden. ↩
-
Business. ↩
-
Formerly. ↩
-
Prosperity. ↩
-
Favour. ↩
-
Sultan. ↩
-
Inquire. ↩
-
Realms. ↩
-
Learn. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
Care. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
To pass briefly by. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Haste. ↩
-
Contrive. ↩
-
Deception, stratagem. ↩
-
Believe. ↩
-
Willingly. ↩
-
Muhammad. ↩
-
Peace rhymed with lese and chese, the old forms of lose and choose. ↩
-
Keeping. ↩
-
Muhammadanism. ↩
-
Agreed. ↩
-
Know not. ↩
-
Provision. ↩
-
Prepared. ↩
-
Prepared. ↩
-
Go. ↩
-
With good will, favour. ↩
-
Prepare to set out. ↩
-
Of old. ↩
-
Except. ↩
-
On high. ↩
-
Died. ↩
-
Commands. ↩
-
No matter though I perish. ↩
-
According to Middle Age writers there were two motions of the first heaven; one everything always from east to west above the stars; the other moving the stars against the first motion, from west to east, on two other poles. ↩
-
Pushest together, drivest. ↩
-
The meaning of this word is not known; but “occifer,” murderer, has been suggested instead by Urry, on the authority of a marginal reading on a manuscript. ↩
-
Progress. ↩
-
Thou joinest thyself where thou art rejected, and art declined or departed from the place where thou wert well. The moon portends the fortunes of Constance. ↩
-
Waived, declined. ↩
-
Better. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
When the nativity is known. ↩
-
Ignorant. ↩
-
Made an effort. ↩
-
Together. ↩
-
Forsake. ↩
-
Koran. ↩
-
Promise. ↩
-
Betide, befall. ↩
-
For denying Muhammad our belief. ↩
-
Advice. ↩
-
Endeavour; from Anglo-Saxon, fandian, to try. ↩
-
Relate. ↩
-
To embrace Christianity. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
Requite, match. ↩
-
Sultaness. ↩
-
Bondage. ↩
-
Ruin. ↩
-
Oppose, censure. ↩
-
Renounce her creed, profession. ↩
-
Take; Anglo-Saxon, fengian, German, fangen. ↩
-
Desire, command. ↩
-
Knew. ↩
-
Message. ↩
-
To meet. ↩
-
Realm. ↩
-
In company. ↩
-
Face. ↩
-
Spirit. ↩
-
Contrived. ↩
-
Cease. ↩
-
Sprinkled. ↩
-
Seizes the end. ↩
-
Security. ↩
-
Unforeseen. ↩
-
Cut into pieces and stabbed at table. ↩
-
Knew. ↩
-
Escaped. ↩
-
Immediately, in haste. ↩
-
Without rudder. ↩
-
Back to Italy. ↩
-
Led, took. ↩
-
Rudder, guide. ↩
-
Blessed, beneficent. ↩
-
Drown. ↩
-
Banisher, driver out. ↩
-
Out of those who in faith wear the crucifix. ↩
-
Morocco; Gibraltar. ↩
-
Expect. ↩
-
Where. ↩
-
Servant. ↩
-
Devoured. ↩
-
Escaped. ↩
-
It pleased. ↩
-
Treacle; remedy, salve. ↩
-
Scholars. ↩
-
Foresight. ↩
-
Slain. ↩
-
The four angels who held the four winds of the earth and to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea (Rev. 7:1, 2). ↩
-
Victuals. ↩
-
Without fail. ↩
-
Abundance. ↩
-
Castle. ↩
-
Name. ↩
-
Thence would it not move for long, at all. ↩
-
Go. ↩
-
Searched. ↩
-
Divide. ↩
-
A kind of bastard Latin. ↩
-
Nevertheless. ↩
-
Search (in the ship). ↩
-
Thanked God for what He had sent. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Pity. ↩
-
Assemble. ↩
-
Regions, coasts. ↩
-
Such of the old Britons as were Christians. ↩
-
Were not. ↩
-
Were not. ↩
-
Except. ↩
-
Those. ↩
-
Closed, shut. ↩
-
Was alarmed by that cry. ↩
-
Work. ↩
-
Astonished. ↩
-
What means all this ado. ↩
-
So far, with such effect. ↩
-
Found. ↩
-
Deliberated, contrived. ↩
-
Repay her labour, revenge himself on her. ↩
-
Perish. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Having been long awake. ↩
-
Gone. ↩
-
Cruelly. ↩
-
Describe. ↩
-
To be grieved, to tremble. ↩
-
Distress. ↩
-
Accused her falsely. ↩
-
Been greatly moved by the evidence. ↩
-
Learn. ↩
-
Died. ↩
-
That lieth yet where he was laid. ↩
-
Show. ↩
-
Immediately. ↩
-
Hosanna. ↩
-
Cruelty, wickedness. ↩
-
Led. ↩
-
Bested, situated. ↩
-
Pity. ↩
-
Dread, danger. ↩
-
Consider. ↩
-
Judge. ↩
-
The Gospels. ↩
-
And shall I be silent? ↩
-
Vengeance. ↩
-
Simple, harmless. ↩
-
Compassion. ↩
-
Mate, consort. ↩
-
Straw. ↩
-
Reasonable. ↩
-
Kind of. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
Male; German, knabe, boy. ↩
-
Caused to come forth. ↩
-
The messenger. ↩
-
Promote his own interest. ↩
-
Swiftly. ↩
-
Greets. ↩
-
Times. ↩
-
Pleases. ↩
-
Steadily. ↩
-
Bold, brave. ↩
-
Had by ill-chance become an elf, a witch. ↩
-
The will, sending. ↩
-
By his conversion. ↩
-
Will, pleasure. ↩
-
Preserve. ↩
-
Do. ↩
-
Lost. ↩
-
Aspect. ↩
-
Company. ↩
-
Worthy. ↩
-
Unwomanly woman. ↩
-
Alighted. ↩
-
Glad. ↩
-
Packed, stuffed his belt, stowed away liquor under. ↩
-
Again. ↩
-
Judgement, doom. ↩
-
Kingdom. ↩
-
A fourth of the time. ↩
-
Push. ↩
-
Spirit. ↩
-
Pain, trouble. ↩
-
Contrived. ↩
-
Plan, plot. ↩
-
Nearest. ↩
-
Cruel. ↩
-
Saw. ↩
-
Be destroyed. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Strand, shore. ↩
-
They will; whatever Thou sendest. ↩
-
Rudder; guide. ↩
-
Took, drew. ↩
-
Incitement, egging on. ↩
-
Lost. ↩
-
Torn, pierced. ↩
-
By my faith. ↩
-
Maid. ↩
-
Take pity. ↩
-
Sorrowful. ↩
-
Par Dieu; by God. ↩
-
Cruel, stern. ↩
-
Destroyed. ↩
-
Pitiless. ↩
-
Multitude. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Be needed. ↩
-
Honoured, praised; from Anglo-Saxon, herian. Compare German, herrlich, glorious, honourable. ↩
-
Provide. ↩
-
Tortured. ↩
-
Confess; German, bekennen. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Allegiance. ↩
-
Decree, command. ↩
-
Land. ↩
-
Again. ↩
-
In danger of perishing. ↩
-
Gaze, stare. ↩
-
Denied our faith. ↩
-
Illicit lover. ↩
-
Would not. ↩
-
Was drowned. ↩
-
Unblemished. ↩
-
Weakeness. ↩
-
Destroy. ↩
-
Abashed, overthrown. ↩
-
Devoid. ↩
-
Gibraltar and Ceuta. ↩
-
Resolved, arranged. ↩
-
A short time; as long as a cast of the dice. ↩
-
Caused. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
To meet him. ↩
-
Courtesy, profession of welcome. ↩
-
The poet here refers to Gower’s version of the story. ↩
-
Command. ↩
-
Meal time. ↩
-
Know not. ↩
-
Short time. ↩
-
Rather. ↩
-
Wicked. ↩
-
Point. ↩
-
Could by any chance be she. ↩
-
Sighed. ↩
-
Fast as he could. ↩
-
By my faith. ↩
-
A phantasm, mere fancy. ↩
-
I should be certain. ↩
-
Message, summons. ↩
-
Not easily, with difficulty. ↩
-
Greeted. ↩
-
Saints. ↩
-
Surely. ↩
-
Mourn, complain. ↩
-
Truth is known. ↩
-
Sorrow. ↩
-
Rude, foolish. ↩
-
Guess, know. ↩
-
Prepared. ↩
-
So far as his skill. ↩
-
Make ready. ↩
-
Condemned, doomed. ↩
-
Hinder. ↩
-
Res gestae; histories, exploits. ↩
-
Saw. ↩
-
Promise. ↩
-
Disturbance. ↩
-
Judgement, opinion. ↩
-
Snatched. ↩
-
Praises. ↩
-
Times. ↩
-
Among the evidences that Chaucer’s great work was left incomplete, is the absence of any link of connection between the “Wife of Bath’s” prologue and tale, and what goes before. This deficiency has in some editions caused the Squire’s and the “Merchant’s Tales” to be interposed between those of the Man of Law and the Wife of Bath; but in “Merchant’s Tale” there is internal proof that it was told after the jolly Dame’s. Several manuscripts contain verses designed to serve as a connection; but they are evidently not Chaucer’s, and it is unnecessary to give them here. Of this prologue, which may fairly be regarded as a distinct autobiographical tale, Tyrwhitt says: “The extraordinary length of it, as well as the vein of pleasantry that runs through it, is very suitable to the character of the speaker. The greatest part must have been of Chaucer’s own invention, though one may plainly see that he had been reading the popular invectives against marriage and women in general; such as the ‘Roman de la Rose,’ ‘Valerius ad Rufinum, De non Ducenda Uxore,’ and particularly ‘Hieronymus contra Jovinianum.’ St. Jerome, among other things designed to discourage marriage, has inserted in his treatise a long passage from Liber Aureolus Theophrasti de Nuptiis.” ↩
-
Authorities, written opinions, texts. ↩
-
Lives eternally. ↩
-
Great part of the marriage service used to be performed in the church-porch. ↩
-
Since. ↩
-
Cana. ↩
-
Same. ↩
-
Occasion. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
John 4:13. ↩
-
In my life. ↩
-
Comment, make glosses. ↩
-
As if it were a disgrace. ↩
-
Lord; dominus. Another reading is “the wise man, King Solomon.” ↩
-
What special favour or licence. ↩
-
As I understand, as I take it. ↩
-
So well went things with him in his life. ↩
-
On God’s part. ↩
-
Burn. ↩
-
What care I. ↩
-
Evil. ↩
-
Impious, wicked. ↩
-
Know. ↩
-
In any period. ↩
-
Forbade; French, defendre, to prohibit. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
A maid. ↩
-
Condemned. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Sown. ↩
-
Command. ↩
-
The goal; a spear or dart was set up to mark the point of victory. ↩
-
Except where. ↩
-
Scandal, reproach. ↩
-
Mate, husband. ↩
-
Charge, reproach. ↩
-
Although it were. ↩
-
Frailty. ↩
-
Frailty I call it, unless. ↩
-
Spirit. ↩
-
Condition. ↩
-
“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.”—2 Tim. 2:20. ↩
-
Appoint, distribute. ↩
-
Fountain. ↩
-
Doctrine. ↩
-
End, purpose. ↩
-
Being. ↩
-
Scholars. ↩
-
Duty. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
Held bound, obliged. ↩
-
Weapons. ↩
-
Care. ↩
-
Fashioned. ↩
-
Contend. ↩
-
Purified. ↩
-
Mark 6:41, 42. ↩
-
Called us to. ↩
-
Scrupulous, dainty, overnice. ↩
-
Sparing, or difficult, of my favours. ↩
-
I will bear no hindrance. ↩
-
Slave. ↩
-
Whit. ↩
-
Suffer for. ↩
-
Rather. ↩
-
Wait in patience. ↩
-
The instrument of administering torture. ↩
-
That tun. ↩
-
Not to be offended by, not to take to heart. ↩
-
With difficulty. ↩
-
Fulfil the law. ↩
-
By God, in God’s name. ↩
-
Labour. ↩
-
Faith. ↩
-
Held it of no account. ↩
-
Cared nothing for, set no value on. ↩
-
Constantly. ↩
-
Care. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
At Dunmow prevailed the custom of giving, amid much merry making, a flitch of bacon to the married pair who had lived together for a year without quarrel or regret. The same custom prevailed of old in Bretagne. ↩
-
Happy and fain. ↩
-
Angrily. ↩
-
Make them believe falsely. ↩
-
Unless they have acted unadvisedly. ↩
-
Know. ↩
-
Delude them into believing that the cow is mad—or is made of wood. ↩
-
Cagnard, or Caignard, a French term of reproach, originally derived from canis, a dog. ↩
-
Wheresoever. ↩
-
Good clothing. ↩
-
Whisperest. ↩
-
Buffooneries, tricks. ↩
-
Proof. ↩
-
Expense. ↩
-
Birth, kindred; from Latin, pario, I beget. ↩
-
Whoremonger. ↩
-
Everywhere, on all sides. ↩
-
Buy. ↩
-
Mate. ↩
-
Wield, govern. ↩
-
With his good will. ↩
-
Hold. ↩
-
Good-for-nothing. ↩
-
Stroke. ↩
-
Lightning. ↩
-
May. ↩
-
Wedded. ↩
-
Ill-tempered wretch. ↩
-
Proved at various seasons. ↩
-
Raiment. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Nurse; French, nourrice. ↩
-
Chambermaid. ↩
-
Relations. ↩
-
Sorrow on thee! ↩
-
Property. ↩
-
St. Jago of Compostella. ↩
-
Furious. ↩
-
Spite of. ↩
-
Pleases. ↩
-
Alice, Alison. ↩
-
Care. ↩
-
Lord. This and the previous quotation from Ptolemy are due to the Dame’s own fancy. ↩
-
Needs, behoves. ↩
-
Forbid. ↩
-
Needs, behoves. ↩
-
Complain. ↩
-
Women should not adorn themselves: see 1 Tim. 2:9. ↩
-
Modesty. ↩
-
House. ↩
-
Caterwauling. ↩
-
Apparel, fine clothes. ↩
-
Gardecorps, bodyguard. ↩
-
Unless it please me. ↩
-
Make a jest of him. ↩
-
Thrive. ↩
-
Fourth. ↩
-
Pleasant. ↩
-
Shorten. ↩
-
No other kind of comparisons. ↩
-
Those. ↩
-
Destroy. ↩
-
Made them believe. ↩
-
Pain. ↩
-
Complain. ↩
-
Even though. ↩
-
Ruined. ↩
-
Is ground. ↩
-
Stopped. ↩
-
Quickly. ↩
-
Were never guilty of in their lives. ↩
-
Falsely accuse them. ↩
-
Thought. ↩
-
Affection; from French, cher, dear. ↩
-
Adorned; took to himself. ↩
-
Naturally. ↩
-
Complaining. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Folly; French, niaiserie. ↩
-
The bacon of Dunmow. ↩
-
Requited, repaid. ↩
-
Furious. ↩
-
Dear. ↩
-
Heed, notice. ↩
-
Kiss; from French, baiser. ↩
-
Tender, nice. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Bend, give way. ↩
-
Murmur. ↩
-
Whit. ↩
-
By Saint Peter! a common adjuration, like Marie! from the Virgin’s name. ↩
-
Curse. ↩
-
Wantonness. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
Because. ↩
-
Full of wine. ↩
-
Resistance. ↩
-
Good. ↩
-
Poison, embitter. ↩
-
Vigour. ↩
-
Try. ↩
-
Requited. ↩
-
Or Judocus, a saint of Ponthieu, in France. ↩
-
Pinched. “An allusion,” says Mr. Wright, “to the story of the Roman sage who, when blamed for divorcing his wife, said that a shoe might appear outwardly to fit well, but no one but the wearer knew where it pinched.” ↩
-
Cross. ↩
-
Cruel, ill-tempered. ↩
-
In a row. ↩
-
Flatter. ↩
-
Sparing, difficult. ↩
-
Difficulty. ↩
-
Merchandise. ↩
-
A scholar of Oxford. ↩
-
Thrive. ↩
-
Jot. ↩
-
Secret. ↩
-
Seen. ↩
-
Favour. ↩
-
Appointed. ↩
-
Gowns. ↩
-
Fed. ↩
-
Whit. ↩
-
Worn. ↩
-
Foresight. ↩
-
Boasting; Ben Jonson’s braggart, in “Every Man in his Humour,” is named Bobadil. ↩
-
Foresight. ↩
-
A very old proverb in French, German, and Latin. Starte, to escape. ↩
-
Done. ↩
-
Falsely assured him. ↩
-
Dreamed. ↩
-
Always. ↩
-
Countenance. ↩
-
Mate. ↩
-
Promise. ↩
-
Those. ↩
-
Keeping. ↩
-
Gap-toothed; goat-toothed; or cat or separate toothed. See note 164. ↩
-
In a good way. The lines in brackets are only in some of the manuscripts. ↩
-
Under the influence of Mars. ↩
-
Taurus, the Bull. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
Whether. ↩
-
Heed. ↩
-
Handome, courteous. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
Prater. ↩
-
Had swaorn to prevent it. ↩
-
Stories. ↩
-
Bareheaded. ↩
-
Saw. ↩
-
Sempronius Sophus, of whom Valerius Maximus tells in his sixth book. ↩
-
Same. ↩
-
Willows. ↩
-
Make pilgrimages to shrines of saints. ↩
-
Cared not a straw. ↩
-
Furious. ↩
-
Endure, bear with. ↩
-
The tract of Walter Mapes against marriage, published under the title of “Epistola Valerii ad Rufinum.” ↩
-
Proverbs. ↩
-
“Ars Amoris.” ↩
-
Jests. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
All who bear the mark of Adam—all men. ↩
-
Those born under the influence of the respective planets. ↩
-
Expense. ↩
-
A planet, according to the old astrologers, was in “exaltation” when in the sign of the Zodiac in which it exerted its strongest influence; the opposite sign, in which it was weakest, was called its “dejection.” Venus being strongest in Pisces, was weakest in Virgo; but in Virgo Mercury was in “exaltation.” ↩
-
Goodman. ↩
-
Ceases. ↩
-
Wickedness. ↩
-
Clasp, collar. ↩
-
Sort of. ↩
-
Always. ↩
-
Dear. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Except. ↩
-
Think. ↩
-
Pain. ↩
-
Have done, end. ↩
-
Plucked. ↩
-
Woke. ↩
-
Blame. ↩
-
Beseech. ↩
-
Immediately; again. ↩
-
Avenged. ↩
-
Agreed. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Pleases thee. ↩
-
Speak, flout; “chaff.” ↩
-
Interpose; French, entremettre. ↩
-
Preamble. Some editions print “preambulation,” but the word in the text seems meant to show up the ignorance of the clergy, as Chaucer lost no occasion of doing. ↩
-
Hinderest. ↩
-
Curse. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Behave. ↩
-
Please. ↩
-
It is not clear whence Chaucer derived this tale. Tyrwhitt thinks it was taken from the story of Florent, in the first book of Gower’s Confessio Amantis; or perhaps from an older narrative from which Gower himself borrowed. Chaucer has condensed and otherwise improved the fable, especially by laying the scene, not in Sicily, but at the court of our own King Arthur. ↩
-
Fairies; French, feerie. ↩
-
Villages. Compare German, dorf. ↩
-
Stables, sheep-pens. ↩
-
Where. ↩
-
Evening-tides, afternoons; undern signifies the evening; and mele, corresponds to the German mal or mahl, time. ↩
-
Begging district. ↩
-
An evil spirit supposed to do violence to women; a nightmare. ↩
-
Where he had been hawking after waterfowl. Froissart says that any one engaged in this sport “alloit en riviere.” ↩
-
Spite of. ↩
-
Condemned. ↩
-
For as it happened, such. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Execute, destroy. ↩
-
In such a position. ↩
-
The executioner’s axe. ↩
-
Learn. ↩
-
Satisfactory. ↩
-
Go. ↩
-
Sighed. ↩
-
Depart. ↩
-
Provide him with. ↩
-
Agreeing together. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
Came very near the truth. ↩
-
Caught as birds with lime. ↩
-
Pleases. ↩
-
Foolish; French, niais. ↩
-
Fret the sore. Compare, “Let the galled jade wince.” ↩
-
Try. ↩
-
Secret, good at keeping confidence. ↩
-
Rake-handle. ↩
-
From Anglo-Saxon, helan, to hide, conceal. ↩
-
Small. ↩
-
Deformity, disfigurement. ↩
-
Makes a humming noise. ↩
-
Sound. ↩
-
Learn. ↩
-
Spirit. ↩
-
Trouble, anxiety. ↩
-
Same. ↩
-
Eagerly; German, gern. ↩
-
Imagine, tell. ↩
-
To meet. ↩
-
Forth from hence. ↩
-
Faith. ↩
-
Dear. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Instruct; German, weisen, to show or counsel. ↩
-
Pay your reward. ↩
-
Boast, affirm. ↩
-
Whispered a secret, a lesson. ↩
-
Promised. ↩
-
Preserved. ↩
-
Faith. ↩
-
Promise. ↩
-
Curse. ↩
-
Would not. ↩
-
Buried. ↩
-
Perhaps. ↩
-
Take no pains. ↩
-
Same. ↩
-
Fastidious, niggardly. ↩
-
In addition. ↩
-
Writhe, turn about. ↩
-
Burst. ↩
-
If you could conduct yourself well towards me. ↩
-
In private and in public. ↩
-
Wills, requires. ↩
-
Ancestors. ↩
-
Birth, descent. ↩
-
Sentiment. ↩
-
Kind of. ↩
-
Dante, Purgatorio, VII 121. ↩
-
Cease. ↩
-
Thence. ↩
-
Burn. ↩
-
It will perform its natural function. ↩
-
Gentility, nobility. ↩
-
From its very nature. ↩
-
Esteem, honour. ↩
-
Because. ↩
-
French, renommee, renown. ↩
-
Goodness, worth. ↩
-
True. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Dear. ↩
-
Forsake. ↩
-
Reproach. ↩
-
Poverty endured with contentment. ↩
-
Scholars. ↩
-
Holds himself satisfied with, is content with. ↩
-
A slave, abject wretch. ↩
-
Properly, the only true poverty is sin. ↩
-
“Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator”—“Satires,” X 22. ↩
-
In a fabulous conference between the Emperor Adrian and the philosopher Secundus, reported by Vincent of Beauvais, occurs the passage which Chaucer here paraphrases:—“Quid est Paupertas? Odibile bonum; sanitas mater; remotio Curarum; sapientae repertrix; negotium sine damno; possessio absque calumnia; sine sollicitudinae felicitas.” ↩
-
Deliverer from care and trouble. ↩
-
Strange; from French eloigner, to remove. ↩
-
Is a spying-glass, pair of spectacles. ↩
-
True. ↩
-
Age. ↩
-
Text, dictum. ↩
-
Cuckold. ↩
-
Thrive. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Resort. ↩
-
Considered. ↩
-
Sighed. ↩
-
Set no value, care not. ↩
-
Pleases. ↩
-
At variance. ↩
-
Die mad. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Pleases. ↩
-
Took. ↩
-
In succession. ↩
-
Grudgers of expense. ↩
-
On the “Tale of the Friar,” and that of the “Sompnour” which follows, Tyrwhitt has remarked that they “are well engrafted upon that of the ‘Wife of Bath.’ The ill-humour which shows itself between these two characters is quite natural, as no two professions at that time were at more constant variance. The regular clergy, and particularly the mendicant friars, affected a total exemption from all ecclesiastical jurisdiction, except that of the Pope, which made them exceedingly obnoxious to the bishops and of course to all the inferior officers of the national hierarchy.” Both tales, whatever their origin, are bitter satires on the greed and worldliness of the Romish clergy. ↩
-
A kind of gloomy countenance. ↩
-
Good manners. ↩
-
Thrive. ↩
-
Dissatisfied. ↩
-
Mandates, summonses. ↩
-
Civil, gentle. ↩
-
Pay him off. ↩
-
Assuredly. ↩
-
Once on a time. ↩
-
Churchwardens. ↩
-
Sort of. ↩
-
Caught. ↩
-
People who did not pay their full tithes. Mr. Wright remarks that “the sermons of the friars in the fourteenth century were most frequently designed to impress the ahsolute duty of paying full tithes and offerings.” ↩
-
Troubled, put to shame. ↩
-
They got off with no mere pecuniary punishment. ↩
-
Espionage. ↩
-
Furious, mad. ↩
-
Stews. ↩
-
Care. ↩
-
Whistle; bawl. ↩
-
Informers. ↩
-
Won. ↩
-
Ignorant. ↩
-
Alehouse; inn-ale, a house for ale. ↩
-
Small. ↩
-
What was owing him. ↩
-
Plunder, pluck. ↩
-
Cause thee to be struck. ↩
-
Black. ↩
-
It is needful. ↩
-
Dog attending a huntsman with bow and arrow. ↩
-
Better. ↩
-
The name of a musical instrument; applied to an old woman because of the shrillness of her voice. ↩
-
Wore a short doublet. ↩
-
Shade. ↩
-
By the gods. ↩
-
Dear. ↩
-
Please. ↩
-
Great thanks. ↩
-
Chattering. ↩
-
Butcherbirds; which are very noisy and ravenous, and tear in pieces the birds on which they prey; the thorn on which they do this was said to become poisonous. ↩
-
Seek, visit. ↩
-
Medieval legends located hell in the North. ↩
-
Inform. ↩
-
Conceal nothing from me. ↩
-
Niggardly. ↩
-
Whether. ↩
-
Do. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Were it not for. ↩
-
Tricks. ↩
-
Confessed, shriven. ↩
-
Curse. ↩
-
Confessors. ↩
-
What I can gain in my sole revenue. ↩
-
Thought. ↩
-
At home; in your natural state. ↩
-
Make it seem to you. ↩
-
Know. ↩
-
Skill, cunning. ↩
-
Apply myself. ↩
-
Because. ↩
-
Against it. ↩
-
Catch. ↩
-
The witch, or woman, possessed with a prophesying spirit; from the Greek, Πνθια. Chaucer of course refers to the raising of Samuel’s spirit by the Witch of Endor. ↩
-
Set no value upon. ↩
-
Jest. ↩
-
Assuredly. ↩
-
Know. ↩
-
Learn. ↩
-
Learn to understnd what I have said. ↩
-
Both poets who had in fancy visited Hell. ↩
-
Briskly. ↩
-
Seeking what we may pick up. ↩
-
Shaped, resolved. ↩
-
Go. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
As sure. ↩
-
Suffered, endured; thole is still used in Scotland in the same sense. ↩
-
As if nothing were the matter. ↩
-
Whispered. ↩
-
Seize. ↩
-
Horses. ↩
-
Whit. ↩
-
Believest. ↩
-
Stop. ↩
-
Pulled; for twitched. ↩
-
Gray; elsewhere applied by Chaucer to the hairs of an old man. So Burns, in the “Cotter’s Saturday Night,” speaks of the gray temples of “the sire”—“His lyart haffets wearing thin and bare.” ↩
-
Dwells. ↩
-
Used like “ribibe,”—as a nickname for a shrill old scold. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Trot; a contemptuous term for an old woman who has trotted about much, or who moves with quick short steps. ↩
-
Upon. ↩
-
Surely. ↩
-
Cannot help myself. ↩
-
Paineth. ↩
-
Question me about, lay to my change. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
Surely. ↩
-
Show your charity. ↩
-
Ruined, put to death. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Polecat. ↩
-
Secrets. ↩
-
Seized. ↩
-
Frighten, horrify. ↩
-
Relate. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
On the watch; French, aux aguets. ↩
-
Seize. ↩
-
Furious. ↩
-
Quaked, trembled. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
A great ship of burden used by the Portuguese; the name is from the Italian, cargare, to load. ↩
-
Immediately. ↩
-
In a company, crowd. ↩
-
By his very nature. ↩
-
The money given to the priests for performing thirty masses for the dead, either in succession or on the anniversaries of their death; also the masses themselves, which were very profitable to the clergy. ↩
-
The regular religious orders, who had lands and fixed revenues; while the friars, by their vows, had to depend on voluntary contributions, though their need suggested many modes of evading the prescription. ↩
-
In Chaucer’s day the most material notions about the tortures of hell prevailed, and were made the most of by the clergy, who preyed on the affection and fear of the survivors, through the ingenious doctrine of purgatory. Old paintings and illuminations represent the dead as torn by hooks, roasted in fires, boiled in pots, and subjected to many other physical torments. ↩
-
The closing words of the final benediction pronounced at mass. ↩
-
Pleased. ↩
-
With his gown tucked up high. ↩
-
Peer, gaze curiously. ↩
-
Wrighting tablets. ↩
-
A style, or pencil. ↩
-
Daintily. ↩
-
The word now means sideways or asquint; here it means “as if;” and its force is probably to suggest that the second friar, with an ostentatious stealthiness, noted down the names of the liberal, to make them believe that they would be remembered in the holy beggars’ orisons. ↩
-
Rye. ↩
-
Little cake, given for God’s sake. ↩
-
Small piece. ↩
-
Choose. ↩
-
Slip, remnant. ↩
-
Hired servant; from Anglo-Saxon, hyran, to hire; the word was commonly applied to males. ↩
-
Trifles, silly tales. ↩
-
God be in this place; the formula of benediction at entering a house. ↩
-
God recompense you therefor. ↩
-
Staff; French, potence, crutch, gibbet. ↩
-
Servant. ↩
-
Shaped; purposed. ↩
-
Mass. ↩
-
Comment, gloss. ↩
-
Scholars. ↩
-
Closely. ↩
-
Whit. ↩
-
Always. ↩
-
A little while. ↩
-
Confession. ↩
-
Cover. ↩
-
By any sort of chance. ↩
-
This is the fiend’s work. ↩
-
Forbidden. ↩
-
Thin slice. ↩
-
Painstaking. ↩
-
Watch. ↩
-
Dormitory; French, dortoir. ↩
-
Direct. ↩
-
Infirmary-keeper. ↩
-
The rules of St. Benedict granted peculiar honours and immunities to monks who had lived fifty years—the jubilee period—in the order. The usual reading of the words ending the two lines is “loan” or “lone,” and “alone;” but to walk alone does not seem to have been any peculiar privilege of a friar, while the idea of precedence, or higher place at table and in processions, is suggested by the reading in the text. ↩
-
Laymen, people who are not learned; borel was a kind of coarse cloth. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
Contempt. ↩
-
Clothing. ↩
-
Elijah (1 Kings 19). ↩
-
Know. ↩
-
Physician, healer. ↩
-
Watch. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Narrates. ↩
-
Simple, lowly. ↩
-
Compassion. ↩
-
A kind of comment. ↩
-
An emperor Jovinian was famous in the medieval legends for his pride and luxury. ↩
-
Storeroom. ↩
-
Literally, “My heart has belched forth;” in our translation, “My heart is inditing a goodly matter.” (Ps. 45:1.) “Buf” is meant to represent the sound of an eructation, and to show the “great reverence” with which “those in possession,” the monks of the rich monasteries, performed divine service. ↩
-
Doctrine. ↩
-
Poor. ↩
-
Hearers. ↩
-
Upon the soar, or rise. ↩
-
If thou wert not of our brotherhood, thou shouldst have no hope of recovery. ↩
-
Soon to be able to move thy body freely. ↩
-
Friars of various sorts. ↩
-
Better. ↩
-
Spent. ↩
-
Gone. ↩
-
Seek, beseech. ↩
-
Trick. ↩
-
Because we have too little. ↩
-
Made one, united. ↩
-
Work. ↩
-
Believe. ↩
-
If it please thee. ↩
-
Again. ↩
-
Mistresses. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
Fierce. ↩
-
Pure; only. ↩
-
The seven cardinal sins. ↩
-
Ignorant. ↩
-
Executioner. ↩
-
Passionate. ↩
-
Once. ↩
-
Chief magistrate or judge; Latin, potestas; Italian, podesta. Seneca relates the story of Cornelius Piso; De Ira, I 16. ↩
-
Term of office. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Thought. ↩
-
Counsel. ↩
-
At all events. ↩
-
Caused them to be slain. ↩
-
A drunkard. ↩
-
Vicious, ill-tempered. ↩
-
Suite. ↩
-
No decree, control. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Watching. ↩
-
Temperately. ↩
-
Times. ↩
-
Caused. ↩
-
Sure. ↩
-
Not. ↩
-
Use freedom. ↩
-
An anthem of the Roman Church, from Psalm 116:9, which in the Vulgate reads, “Placebo Domino in regione vivorum”—“I will please the Lord.” ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Seneca calls it the Gyndes; Sir John Mandeville tells the story of the Euphrates. Gihon, was the name of one of the four rivers of Eden (Gen. 2:13). ↩
-
Everywhere. ↩
-
Furious. ↩
-
Dear. ↩
-
Pain. ↩
-
Confessed. ↩
-
Raise, build. ↩
-
Scarcely. ↩
-
Foundation. ↩
-
Habitation. ↩
-
Know how to do. ↩
-
Elisha. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Mr. Wright says that “it was a common practice to grant under the conventual seal to benefactors and others a brotherly participation in the spiritual good works of the convent, and in their expected reward after death.” ↩
-
Divide. ↩
-
Quibbling. ↩
-
Horse. ↩
-
Fierce. ↩
-
Purpose. ↩
-
Suffer. ↩
-
Servants. ↩
-
Countenance. ↩
-
Dwelt. ↩
-
With difficulty. ↩
-
Save. ↩
-
Grievance, grief. ↩
-
Reward you. ↩
-
No matter. ↩
-
Befallen. ↩
-
Do. ↩
-
Be not impatient, out of temper. ↩
-
Thrive. ↩
-
Sort of frenzy. ↩
-
Revenged. ↩
-
Speak discreditably of him everywhere. ↩
-
Believe. ↩
-
Arithmetic. ↩
-
Foolish; French, niais. ↩
-
Curse. ↩
-
Ill-favour attend him (the churl). ↩
-
Foolish; French, niais. ↩
-
Thrive. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
Judge, decide. ↩
-
Divided. ↩
-
Impiously, wickedly. ↩
-
Displeased. ↩
-
Cloth for a gown. ↩
-
Equally. ↩
-
Cause. ↩
-
The regular number of monks or friars in a convent was fixed at twelve, with a superior, in imitation of the apostles and their Master; and large religious houses were held to consist of so many convents. ↩
-
Complete. ↩
-
Carefully, steadily. ↩
-
Tight. ↩
-
Drum. ↩
-
Go. ↩
-
Sophism. ↩
-
Livelier mien. ↩
-
Faith. ↩
-
Rod; as the emblem of government or direction. ↩
-
Boldly, truly. ↩
-
Francesco Petrarca, born 1304, died 1374; for his Latin epic poem on the carer of Scipio, called Africa, he was solemnly crowned with the poetic laurel in the Capitol of Rome, on Easter-day of 1341. ↩
-
Was called. ↩
-
An eminent jurist and philosopher, now almost forgotten, who died four or five years after Petrarch. ↩
-
Saluzzo, a district of Savoy; its marquises were celebrated during the Middle Ages. ↩
-
The region called Aemilia, across which ran the Via Aemilia—made by M. Aemilius Lepidus, who was consul at Rome BC 187. It continued the Flaminian Way from Ariminum (Rimini) across the Po at Placentia (Piacenza) to Mediolanum (Milan), traversing Cisalpine Gaul. ↩
-
Narrate. ↩
-
Irrelevant. ↩
-
Petrarch, in his Latin romance, De obedientia et fide uxoria Mythologia, translated the charming story of “the patient Grizel” from the Italian of Bocaccio’s Decameron; and Chaucer has closely followed Petrarch’s translation, made in 1373, the year before that in which he died. The fact that the embassy to Genoa, on which Chaucer was sent, took place in 1372–73, has lent countenance to the opinion that the English poet did actually visit the Italian bard at Padua, and hear the story from his own lips. This, however, is only a probability; for it is a moot point whether the two poets ever met. ↩
-
Monte Viso, a lofty peak at the junction of the Maritime and Cottian Alps; from two springs on its east side rises the Po. ↩
-
Pleasant. ↩
-
Ancestors. ↩
-
Long. ↩
-
Held in reverence. ↩
-
Commonalty. ↩
-
Guide, rule. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
All in a flock or body. ↩
-
Complain of. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
As pleaseth you. ↩
-
Completely satisfied, at ease. ↩
-
Smiteth. ↩
-
Mind, desire. ↩
-
Command. ↩
-
Least. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Cease, become extinct. ↩
-
Alive. ↩
-
Before. ↩
-
Servitude. ↩
-
Goodness. ↩
-
Stock, race. ↩
-
Commend to him. ↩
-
Honour. ↩
-
Murmur. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Were in fear or doubt. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
Obediently; Anglo-Saxon, bogsom, old English, boughsome, that can be easily bent or bowed; German, biegsam, pliant, obedient. ↩
-
Provide. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Prepared; resolved on. ↩
-
Hamlet. ↩
-
Dwelling. ↩
-
Luxurious pleasure. ↩
-
Of water than of wine. ↩
-
Because. ↩
-
Steadfast and mature spirit. ↩
-
Plants, cabbages. ↩
-
Up, aloft. ↩
-
Times. ↩
-
By chance. ↩
-
Serious. ↩
-
Countenance, demeanour. ↩
-
Consider. ↩
-
Goodness. ↩
-
Caused. ↩
-
Befit. ↩
-
Prepared, designed. ↩
-
Strive. ↩
-
Steady. ↩
-
With humble air. ↩
-
Delay. ↩
-
Fetched. ↩
-
Go. ↩
-
Born. ↩
-
Event. ↩
-
Amazed. ↩
-
Scarcely. ↩
-
Conference. ↩
-
Hearing. ↩
-
Before. ↩
-
Astonished. ↩
-
Accustomed, wont. ↩
-
Push on, pursue. ↩
-
True; French vraie. ↩
-
Consider. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
Cause. ↩
-
Murmur. ↩
-
Offer. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Strip. ↩
-
Loose, unplaited. ↩
-
Ornaments of some kind not precisely known; some editions read “ouches,” studs, brooches. ↩
-
Scarcely. ↩
-
Delayed. ↩
-
Grown. ↩
-
Scarcely believed. ↩
-
Qualities. ↩
-
Worthy. ↩
-
Virtue. ↩
-
Seldom. ↩
-
Knew, understood, all the duty of performance. ↩
-
She could well labour for the public advantage. ↩
-
Not. ↩
-
At feud. ↩
-
Weened, imagined. ↩
-
Though she had rather. ↩
-
Male. ↩
-
Little while. ↩
-
Steadfastness, endurance. ↩
-
Try. ↩
-
Causelessly. ↩
-
Alarm, disturb. ↩
-
It ill became him. ↩
-
Believe. ↩
-
Two. ↩
-
Pleasant, loved. ↩
-
Nobles, gentlefolk. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Please. ↩
-
Odious. ↩
-
Knowing. ↩
-
Promised. ↩
-
Changed. ↩
-
Destroy. ↩
-
Be pleasing. ↩
-
Spirit, heart. ↩
-
About as much time as one might take to walk a furlong or two; a short space. ↩
-
A kind of squire. ↩
-
Confidant, trusty tool. ↩
-
Dreaded. ↩
-
It will not do merely to feign compliance with a lord’s commands. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
Seized. ↩
-
Unpityingly. ↩
-
To make a show, assume an aspect. ↩
-
Ominous. ↩
-
Reputation, evil fame. ↩
-
Thought. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Sighed. ↩
-
Lap, bosom. ↩
-
Cross. ↩
-
Commit unto him. ↩
-
Believe. ↩
-
Nurse. ↩
-
Pitiful case, sight. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Tear; French, arracher. ↩
-
Demeanour. ↩
-
Strike. ↩
-
Panico. ↩
-
Constantly. ↩
-
Steadfast. ↩
-
Sort of way. ↩
-
No change of humour resulting from her affliction. ↩
-
Male, boy. ↩
-
Praise. ↩
-
Taken, weaned. ↩
-
Was seized by yet another desire. ↩
-
Trial. ↩
-
Know no moderation. ↩
-
Do not regard with pleasure. Compare the Latin phrase, “aegre ferre.” ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Sorely, painfully. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Expression of opinion. ↩
-
Complain in my hearing. ↩
-
Before. ↩
-
Become outrageous, rave. ↩
-
Advice. ↩
-
Will. ↩
-
Will. ↩
-
Saw. ↩
-
Seized. ↩
-
Unvaryingly. ↩
-
Bury. ↩
-
Recked, cared. ↩
-
Thought. ↩
-
Disposition. ↩
-
Steadfast, unmoved. ↩
-
Stubborn, stern. ↩
-
Cease. ↩
-
Slacken, abate. ↩
-
Spirit. ↩
-
Devoted, full of painstaking in duty. ↩
-
Pleased. ↩
-
Because. ↩
-
Evil repute, reproach. ↩
-
Desist, stop. ↩
-
Messenger; for French messager. ↩
-
Pleased. ↩
-
Leave. ↩
-
Put an end to. ↩
-
Thought, believed. ↩
-
Steadfast. ↩
-
To the utmost extent of her power. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
As if for. ↩
-
While all this was going on. ↩
-
Knowledge. ↩
-
Immediately make vacant. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Counsel. ↩
-
Not to be denied. ↩
-
Worthy. ↩
-
Chambermaid. ↩
-
Surely. ↩
-
Nobility. ↩
-
Recompense, reward. ↩
-
Go. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Forbid. ↩
-
Mate. ↩
-
At all events. ↩
-
Raiment. ↩
-
Cheerfully. ↩
-
Naked. ↩
-
Dishonourable. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Reward. ↩
-
Reward. ↩
-
Cover. ↩
-
With difficulty. ↩
-
Gone. ↩
-
Go. ↩
-
Dry. ↩
-
Formed, ordained. ↩
-
Had gratified his inclination. ↩
-
Disparagement. ↩
-
Dismiss, get rid of. ↩
-
To meet. ↩
-
Cause it to meet. ↩
-
Many; German, viel. ↩
-
To judge from. ↩
-
Spirit. ↩
-
Full. ↩
-
Particularly. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
Unless it has lately come to pass. ↩
-
Arranged. ↩
-
Messenger. ↩
-
Innocent. ↩
-
Mind. ↩
-
Command. ↩
-
Greeted. ↩
-
What befits his condition. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
Poor to look on. ↩
-
In the quickest manner. ↩
-
Spirit. ↩
-
Cease. ↩
-
Arrange. ↩
-
Took all pains, used every exertion. ↩
-
Eventide, or afternoon; though by some undern is understood as dinnertime—9 a.m. ↩
-
So rich to behold. ↩
-
For the first time. ↩
-
Pleased. ↩
-
Think. ↩
-
Variable. ↩
-
A small coin of little value. ↩
-
Judgement. ↩
-
Proveth. ↩
-
Sedate. ↩
-
Ashamed. ↩
-
Torn. ↩
-
Cleverly, skilfully. ↩
-
Knew, understood how to do. ↩
-
Ceased. ↩
-
Thought. ↩
-
Faith. ↩
-
Me. “This is one of the most licentious corruptions of orthography,” says Tyrwhitt, “that I remember to have observed in Chaucer;” but such liberties were common among the European poets of his time, when there was an extreme lack of certainty in orthography. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Steadfast. ↩
-
Prepare, incline. ↩
-
Afraid nor displeased. ↩
-
Notice, heed. ↩
-
Awoke. ↩
-
Lost. ↩
-
Care. ↩
-
No matter for. ↩
-
Departs. ↩
-
Believed firmly. ↩
-
Caused you to be preserved. ↩
-
Instant. ↩
-
Fell. ↩
-
Firmly. ↩
-
Art. ↩
-
Pluck away, withdraw. ↩
-
Scarcely. ↩
-
Assuages. ↩
-
Astonished. ↩
-
Together. ↩
-
Saw. ↩
-
Firmament. ↩
-
Expense; sumptuousness. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Not to be denied. ↩
-
The fourteen lines that follow are translated almost literally from Petrarch’s Latin. ↩
-
Impossible; not to be borne. ↩
-
Goodwill. ↩
-
For it is most reasonable that He should prove or test that which he made. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Alloys. ↩
-
To view. ↩
-
Bend. ↩
-
Damage, pity. ↩
-
Chichevache, in old popular fable, was a monster that fed on good women, and was always very thin from scarcity of such food; a corresponding monster, Bycorne, fed only on obedient and kind husbands, and was always fat. The origin of the fable was French; but Lydgate has a ballad on the subject. Chichevache litterally means “niggardly” “greedy cow.” ↩
-
Counter-tally or counterfoil; something exactly corresponding. ↩
-
Befooled. ↩
-
Helm. ↩
-
Wives of rank. ↩
-
Camel. ↩
-
Forepart of a helmet, vizor. ↩
-
Advise. ↩
-
Submit, shrink. ↩
-
Linden, lime-tree. ↩
-
Though the manner in which the Merchant takes up the closing words of the Envoy to the “Clerk’s Tale,” and refers to the patience of Griselda, seems to prove beyond doubt that the order of the tales in the text is the right one, yet in some manuscripts of good authority the “Franklin’s Tale” follows the “Clerk’s,” and the “Envoy” is concluded by this stanza:—
“This worthy Clerk when ended was his tale,
Our Hoste said, and swore by cocke’s bones
‘Me lever were than a barrel of ale
My wife at home had heard this legend once;
This is a gentle tale for the nonce;
As, to my purpose, wiste ye my will.
But thing that will not be, let it be still.’ ”In other manuscripts of less authority the Host proceeds, in two similar stanzas, to impose a “Tale” on the Franklin; but Tyrwhitt is probably right in setting them aside as spurious, and in admitting the genuineness of the first only, if it be supposed that Chaucer forgot to cancel it when he had decided on another mode of connecting the “Merchant’s” with the “Clerk’s Tale.” ↩
-
Believe. ↩
-
Thoroughly. ↩
-
So many I thrive! ↩
-
Again. ↩
-
Guard, forbid. ↩
-
Believe. ↩
-
Wickedness, shrewishness. ↩
-
If, as is probable, this “Tale” was translated from the French, the original is not now extant. Tyrwhitt remarks that the scene “is laid in Italy, but none of the names, except Damian and Justin, seem to be Italian, but rather made at pleasure; so that I doubt whether the story be really of Italian growth. The adventure of the pear-tree I find in a small collection of Latin fables, written by one Adoiphus, in elegiac verses of his fashion, in the year 1315. … Whatever was the real origin of the ‘Tale,’ the machinery of the fairies, which Chaucer has used so happily, was probably added by himself; and, indeed, I cannot help thinking that his Pluto and Proserpina were the true progenitors of Oberon and Titania; or rather, that they themselves have, once at least, deigned to revisit our poetical system under the latter names.” ↩
-
Of the laity; but perhaps, since the word is of twofold meaning, Chaucer intends a hit at the secular clergy, who, unlike the regular orders, did not live separate from the world, but shared in all its interests and pleasures—all the more easily and freely, that they had not the civil restraint of marriage. ↩
-
Inclination. ↩
-
True. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Mirth, delight. ↩
-
Becomes, befits. ↩
-
Think that there is security. ↩
-
Check, control. ↩
-
Obedient. ↩
-
Care for, attend to. ↩
-
Mate. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Those. ↩
-
What matter. ↩
-
Thrift. This and the next eight lines are taken from the Liber aureolus Theophrasti de nuptiis, quoted by Hieronymus, Contra Jovinianum, and thence again by John of Salisbury. ↩
-
Servant. ↩
-
Better. ↩
-
Waits on, longs to have. ↩
-
Heed, notice. ↩
-
Distrust. ↩
-
Truly. ↩
-
Common land. ↩
-
Movables, furniture, etc.; French, meubles. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Perhaps. ↩
-
Ruined. ↩
-
Who are not of the clergy. ↩
-
Prove. ↩
-
Obedient, complying. ↩
-
Labour. ↩
-
Whit. ↩
-
Pleaseth. ↩
-
Security. ↩
-
Counsel. ↩
-
Counsel. ↩
-
Benediction. ↩
-
Advanced in dignity. ↩
-
To be esteemed in the highest degree. ↩
-
Bade. ↩
-
Work. ↩
-
Thrive. ↩
-
Let men jest and laugh as they will. ↩
-
Sure. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Grave, earnest. ↩
-
Grave’s. ↩
-
Arrange, contrive. ↩
-
Try. ↩
-
Sooner. ↩
-
Young pike. ↩
-
Know. ↩
-
“Wade’s boat” was called Guingelot; and in it, according to the old romance, the owner underwent a long series of wild adventures, and performed many strange exploits. The romance is lost, and therefore the exact force of the phrase in the text is uncertain; but Mr. Wright seems to be warranted in supposing that Wade’s adventures were cited as examples of craft and cunning—that the hero, in fact, was a kind of Northern Ulysses, It is possible that to the same source we may trace the proverbial phrase, found in Chaucer’s “Remedy of Love,” to “bear Wattis pack” signifying to be duped or beguiled. ↩
-
So much mischief can they perform, employ. ↩
-
Pleases. ↩
-
Guide. ↩
-
Bend, mould. ↩
-
Adultery. ↩
-
I would rather. ↩
-
Trouble. ↩
-
Boast. ↩
-
Strong. ↩
-
Grown. ↩
-
See. ↩
-
Constantly, every day. ↩
-
Depart, deviate. ↩
-
Surely. ↩
-
Advice, encouragement. ↩
-
Knows. ↩
-
Judgement, sentiment. ↩
-
In every point. ↩
-
Satisfied. ↩
-
Advanced; past participle of “step.” Elsewhere “y-stepped in age” is used by Chaucer. ↩
-
Consider. ↩
-
Given to drink. ↩
-
A scold. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Sound in every point. ↩
-
Describe, tell. ↩
-
Qualities. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Company. ↩
-
Pinches. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Company. ↩
-
Displeased. ↩
-
Ill-natured, wicked. ↩
-
Hindereth. ↩
-
Imprint themselves. ↩
-
Stay, fix his choice. ↩
-
Sedateness. ↩
-
Sedateness. ↩
-
Had selected her. ↩
-
In quest of a wife for him, as they had promised. ↩
-
He had definitively made his choice. ↩
-
First of all. ↩
-
Asked a favour, made a request. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Have a share. ↩
-
Long. ↩
-
That tree of original sin, of which the special sins are the branches. ↩
-
Comfort and pleasure. ↩
-
Alarmed, afraid. ↩
-
Lives eternally. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Resolve, answer. ↩
-
Mockery, jesting way. ↩
-
Written texts. ↩
-
Work. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
This is the best counsel that I know. ↩
-
Hinder. ↩
-
Pleasures. ↩
-
Moderately. ↩
-
Alarmed, afraid. ↩
-
Was named. ↩
-
Writing and bond. ↩
-
Crossed. ↩
-
Prayed that. ↩
-
Secure. ↩
-
Delicate. ↩
-
Poured out; from Anglo-Saxon, scencan. ↩
-
Marcianus Capella, who wrote a kind of philosophical romance, De Nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae. “Her” and “him,” two lines after, like “he” applied to Theodomas, are prefixed to the proper names for emphasis, according to the Anglo-Saxon usage. ↩
-
That same, that. ↩
-
Know. ↩
-
Countenance. ↩
-
Afraid. ↩
-
Gone away. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Fainted. ↩
-
Bewail. ↩
-
Domestic; belonging to the familia, or household. ↩
-
Offers. ↩
-
Domestic servant; from Anglo-Saxon, hiwa. Tyrwhitt reads “false of holy hue;” but Mr. Wright has properly restored the reading adopted in the text. ↩
-
Born; owing to January faith and loyalty because born in his household. ↩
-
Dishonour, outrage. ↩
-
Enemy in the household. ↩
-
Diurnal. ↩
-
Pleasant company. ↩
-
Eager. ↩
-
Spiced wine. ↩
-
A wine believed to have come from Crete, although its name—Italian, Vernaccia—seems to be derived from Verona. ↩
-
A medical author who wrote about 1080; his works were printed at Basle in 1536. ↩
-
Curtains. ↩
-
Mate, consort. ↩
-
Dogfish. ↩
-
Briar. ↩
-
No matter. ↩
-
Wantonness. ↩
-
Quavered in his singing. ↩
-
Discover, betray. ↩
-
Risk. ↩
-
Writing-case, carried about by clerks or scholars. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Nearly all the manuscripts read “in two of Taure;” but Tyrwhitt has shown that, setting out from the second degree of Taurus, the moon, which in the four complete days that Maius spent in her chamber could not have advanced more than fifty-three degrees, would only have been at the twenty-fifth degree of Gemini—whereas, by reading “ten,” she is brought to the third degree of Cancer. ↩
-
Hindered. ↩
-
Grieves, causes uneasiness. ↩
-
Secret, trusty. ↩
-
When only I have rested me a little. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Saw. ↩
-
Or kidde, past participle of “kythe” or “kithe,” to show or discover. ↩
-
Fragments. ↩
-
Is thoughtful. ↩
-
Whether she were willing or reluctant. ↩
-
Precise, overnice; French, precieux, affected. ↩
-
Let him judge. ↩
-
To satisfy his desire. ↩
-
Generosity. ↩
-
Closely consider. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Or “pruned;” carefully trimmed and dressed himself. The word is used in falconry of a hawk when she picks and trims her feathers. ↩
-
A dog attending a hunter with the bow. ↩
-
Writers, scholars. ↩
-
Prepared, arranged. ↩
-
Honourably, suitably. ↩
-
Which opens with a description of a beautiful garden. ↩
-
Tell, describe. ↩
-
Son of Bacchus and Venus: he was regarded as the promoter of fertility in all agricultural life, vegetable and animal; while not only gardens, but fields, flocks, bees—and even fisheries—were supposed to be under his protection. ↩
-
Fountain. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
Key. ↩
-
Unshut, opened. ↩
-
Deceitful. ↩
-
Strange. ↩
-
Both great and small. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
Mate. ↩
-
He could not cease to be jealous continually. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Pleased. ↩
-
Expected. ↩
-
Burst. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
End, aim. ↩
-
Think confidently. ↩
-
Taken an impression of the key. ↩
-
Learn. ↩
-
They exchanged the assurances of their love; came. ↩
-
Whispering. ↩
-
It befell, it happened. ↩
-
Inciting. ↩
-
Wet. See Song of Solomon, chap. II. ↩
-
Dove’s eyes. ↩
-
Rather. ↩
-
Chose. ↩
-
Covetousness. ↩
-
Surely. ↩
-
Blame. ↩
-
Dissimilar, incompatible. ↩
-
Die not. ↩
-
Cause. ↩
-
Cause. ↩
-
Drown. ↩
-
Reproof. ↩
-
Mate. ↩
-
Pear-tree. ↩
-
“That fair field,
Milton, Paradise Lost, IV 268.
Of Enna, where Proserpine, gath’ring flowers,
Herself a fairer flow’r, by gloomy Dis
Was gather’d.” -
Fetched. ↩
-
Deny. ↩
-
Inconstancy. ↩
-
Knows. ↩
-
Goodness. ↩
-
See Ecclesiastes 7:28. ↩
-
Jesus, the son of Sirach, to whom is ascribed one of the books of the Apochrypha—that called the “Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus;” in which, especially in the ninth and twenty-fifth chapters, severe cautions are given against women. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Confront it, face it out. ↩
-
Ignorant, confounded. ↩
-
Histories; such as those of Lucretia, Porcia, etc. ↩
-
Opinion, real meaning. ↩
-
Perfect goodness. ↩
-
Man nor woman. ↩
-
Forbidden. ↩
-
Plaster over, “whitewash.” ↩
-
Idolater. ↩
-
The true. ↩
-
Kingdom. ↩
-
Sooner. ↩
-
Care not for, value not. ↩
-
Praters. ↩
-
Enjoy the use of, preserve. ↩
-
Becomes, befits. ↩
-
Parrot. ↩
-
That same pear-tree. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Servant. ↩
-
No matter. ↩
-
Twig, bough. ↩
-
Mince matters. ↩
-
At this point, and again some twenty lines below, several verses of a very coarse character had been inserted in later manuscripts; but they are evidently spurious, and are omitted in the best editions. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
“Store” is the general reading here, but its meaning is not obvious. “Stowre” is found in several manuscripts; it signifies “struggle” or “resist;” and both for its own appropriateness, and for the force which it gives the word “stronge,” the reading in the text seems the better. ↩
-
Neck. ↩
-
Glimmering. ↩
-
Rave, are confused. ↩
-
Dear. ↩
-
Grieved. ↩
-
Think as you please. ↩
-
Notice. ↩
-
Awakened. ↩
-
Who mistakes oft misjudges. ↩
-
Embraced. ↩
-
Led. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Truth. ↩
-
Swerve, depart. ↩
-
Blabbering, prating. ↩
-
Moreover. ↩
-
No matter. ↩
-
Know. ↩
-
Secret, confidence. ↩
-
If. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
Foolish. ↩
-
Are adepts at giving circulation to such wares. The Host evidently means that his wife would be sure to hear of his confessions from some female member of the company. ↩
-
Done. ↩
-
Know of it. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
The “Squire’s Tale” has not been found under any other form among the literary remains of the Middle Ages; and it is unknown from what original it was derived, if from any. The “Tale” is unfinished, not because the conclusion has been lost, but because the author left it so. ↩
-
Made war upon; the Russians and Tartars waged constant hostilities between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. ↩
-
In the best manuscripts the name is “Cambynskan,” and thus, no doubt, it should strictly be read. But it is a most pardonable offence against literal accuracy to use the word which Milton has made classical, in “Il Penseroso,” speaking of “him that left half-told the story of Cambuscan bold.” Surely the admiration of Milton might well seem to the spirit of Chaucer to condone a much greater transgression on his domain than this verbal change—which to both eye and ear is an unquestionable improvement on the uncouth original. ↩
-
Moreover, besides. ↩
-
Alike, in even mood. ↩
-
Firm, immovable of spirit. ↩
-
Skill. ↩
-
Orator. ↩
-
Well skilled in using the colours—the word-painting—belonging to his art. ↩
-
Caused his birthday festival to be proclaimed, ordered by proclamation. ↩
-
Aries was the mansion of Mars—to whom “his” applies. Leo was the mansion of the Sun. ↩
-
Pleasant. ↩
-
Bright. ↩
-
Like. ↩
-
Relate. ↩
-
Dishes, or soups. The precise force of the word is uncertain; but it may be connected with seethe, to boil, and it seems to describe a dish in which the flesh was served up amid a kind of broth or gravy. The “sewer,” taster or assayer of the viands served at great tables, probably derived his name from the verb to “say” or “assay;” though Tyrwhitt would connect the two words, by taking both from the French, asseoir, to place—making the arrangement of the table the leading duty of the “sewer,” rather than the testing of the food. ↩
-
Young herons; French, heronneaux. ↩
-
Care for. ↩
-
Story, discourse; French, propos. ↩
-
Noble, brave array. ↩
-
Watched. ↩
-
Celebrated in medieval romance as the most courteous among King Arthur’s knights. ↩
-
Could not better him by one word. ↩
-
Fault. ↩
-
Demeanour. ↩
-
Learn. ↩
-
The general sense of meaning. ↩
-
This is the sum of. ↩
-
Command. ↩
-
Pass, go. ↩
-
Hurt, injury. ↩
-
It pleases you. ↩
-
Twisting. ↩
-
Knew. ↩
-
Contrivance; trick; snare. Compare Italian, inganno, deception; and our own “engine.” ↩
-
Observed. ↩
-
Mr. Wright remarks that “the making and arrangement of seals was one of the important operations of medieval magic.” ↩
-
Speech, sound. ↩
-
Remedy. ↩
-
The same. ↩
-
Deceit. ↩
-
Seated at table. ↩
-
Fetched. ↩
-
Removed; French, remuer, to stir. ↩
-
Pulley. ↩
-
Know not the cunning of the mechanism. ↩
-
Remove. ↩
-
Gaze. ↩
-
Apulian. The horses of Apulia—in old French Poille, in Italian Puglia—were held in high value. ↩
-
Weened, thought. ↩
-
Bees. ↩
-
Reasons. ↩
-
Pegasus. ↩
-
The wooden horse of the Greek Sinon, introduced into Troy by the stratagem of its maker. ↩
-
Narratives of exploits and adventures. ↩
-
Design, prepare. ↩
-
Whispered. ↩
-
Ignorant. ↩
-
Are ready to think the worst. ↩
-
Chief tower; as, in the “Knight’s Tale,” the principal street is called the “master street.” See note 841. ↩
-
Two writers on optics—the first supposed to have lived about 1100, the other about 1270. Tyrwhitt says that their works were printed atBasle in 1572, under the title Alhazeni et Vitellonis Opticae. ↩
-
Curious. ↩
-
Wound. Telephus, a son of Hercules, reigned over Mysia when the Greeks came to besiege Troy, and he sought to prevent their landing. But, by the art of Dionysus, he was made to stumble over a vine, and Achilles wounded him with his spear. The oracle informed Telephus that the hurt could be healed only by him, or by the weapon, that inflicted it; and the king, seeking the Grecian camp, was healed by Achilles with the rust of the charmed spear. ↩
-
However. ↩
-
Had a reputation for knowledge. ↩
-
Because. ↩
-
Before; a corruption of forne, from Anglo-Saxon, foran. ↩
-
Known. ↩
-
Or Aldebaran; a star in the neck of the constellation Leo. ↩
-
Presence-chamber, or chamber of state, full of splendid furniture and ornaments. The same expression is used in French and Italian. ↩
-
In Pisces, Venus was said to be at her exaltation or greatest power. See note 1988. ↩
-
Soon. ↩
-
Tell, describe. ↩
-
Merry, gay. ↩
-
The pantomimic gestures of the dance. ↩
-
Arthur’s famous knight, so accomplished and courtly, that he was held the very pink of chivalry. ↩
-
Pleasantness. ↩
-
Haste. ↩
-
Greatest. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Mode of managing him. ↩
-
Turn; akin to “thirl,” “drill.” ↩
-
Contrivance. ↩
-
Call. ↩
-
Another reading is “bide,” alight or remain. ↩
-
Cherished. ↩
-
Know not. ↩
-
Entertaining; French, festoyer, to feast. ↩
-
Nurse. ↩
-
Heed. ↩
-
Yawning. ↩
-
Kissed. ↩
-
The old physicians held that blood dominated in the human body late at night and in the early morning. Galen says that the domination lasts for seven hours. ↩
-
Fumes of wine rising from the stomach to the head. ↩
-
Which are of no significance. ↩
-
Broad forenoon, dinnertime. ↩
-
Except. ↩
-
Moderate. ↩
-
She did not choose to be made pale. ↩
-
To look sad, depressed. ↩
-
Curious. ↩
-
Tutoresses, governesses. ↩
-
Pleasant. ↩
-
Sweet. ↩
-
Servants, household. ↩
-
A path cut out. ↩
-
Glided. ↩
-
Be lightened, gladdened. ↩
-
Knew. ↩
-
Nucleus, chief matter. ↩
-
Delayed. ↩
-
Inclination, zest. ↩
-
For a long time. ↩
-
Thoroughly dried up. ↩
-
From top to bottom of. ↩
-
Incessantly. ↩
-
Shrieked. ↩
-
Picked, wounded. ↩
-
Describe. ↩
-
Foreign, strange; German, fremd; in the northern dialects, frem, or fremmed, is used in the same sense. ↩
-
Curious. ↩
-
Language, dialect; from Anglo-Saxon, leden or laeden, a corruption from “Latin.” ↩
-
Pity. ↩
-
Twig, bough. ↩
-
Raging, furious. ↩
-
Believe. ↩
-
Revenge. ↩
-
Fear. ↩
-
Have mercy on yourself. ↩
-
Distress. ↩
-
Surely. ↩
-
Nature. ↩
-
Awoke. ↩
-
By experience as by text or doctrine. ↩
-
Showith. ↩
-
Better. ↩
-
Instructed, corrected. ↩
-
Depart. ↩
-
As if she would dissolve into water. ↩
-
To her. ↩
-
Same. ↩
-
The tassel, or male of any species of hawk; so called, according to Cotgrave, because he is one third (“tiers”) smaller than the female. ↩
-
Although he was. ↩
-
Under an aspect, mien, of humility. ↩
-
Are consonant to. ↩
-
Foolish, simple. ↩
-
Greatly afraid lest he should die. ↩
-
Both privately and in public. ↩
-
In no other way, on no other terms. ↩
-
Do not think alike. ↩
-
Mien. ↩
-
First of all. “And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one Adah, and the name of the other Zillah” (Gen. 4:19). ↩
-
Sophistries, beguilements. ↩
-
Shoe; it seems to have been used in France, of a sabot, or wooden shoe. The reader cannot fail to recall the same illustration in John 1:27, where the Baptist says of Christ: “He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me; whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.” ↩
-
Combed, studied. ↩
-
With perfect precision. ↩
-
Pained. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
So far did this go. ↩
-
Fell; allowed. ↩
-
So dear, or dearer. ↩
-
Depart, separate. ↩
-
Whether. ↩
-
Stay; another form is bleve; from Anglo-Saxon, belitan, to remain. Compare German, bleiben. ↩
-
Witness, pledge. ↩
-
Better. ↩
-
This sentiment, as well as the illustration of the bird which follows, is taken from the third book of Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae, metrum 2. It has thus been rendered in Chaucer’s translation: “All things seek aye to their proper course, and all things rejoice on their returning again to their nature.” ↩
-
Men, by their own—their very—nature, are fond of novelty, and prone to inconstancy. ↩
-
Immediately on his door being opened. ↩
-
Lost, undone. ↩
-
Again. ↩
-
Lap. ↩
-
Gladden. ↩
-
Cage. ↩
-
Blue velvets. Blue was the colour of truth, as green was that of inconstancy. In John Stowe’s additions to Chaucer’s works, printed in 1561, there is “A balade whiche Chaucer made against women inconstaunt,” of which the refrain is, “In stead of blue, thus may ye wear all green.” ↩
-
Supposed to be the titmouse. ↩
-
Again, presently. ↩
-
Had he not. ↩
-
Unless we suppose this to be a namesake of the Camballo who was Canace’s brother—which is not at all probable—we must agree with Tyrwhitt that there is a mistake here; which no doubt Chaucer would have rectified, if the tale had not been “left half-told,” One manuscript reads “Caballo;” and though not much authority need be given to a difference that may be due to mere omission of the mark of contraction over the “a,” there is enough in the text to show that another person than the king’s younger son is intended. The Squire promises to tell the adventures that befell each member of Cambuscan’s family; and in thorough consistency with this plan, and with the canons of chivalric story, would be “the marriage of Canace to some knight who was first obliged to fight for her with her two brethren; a method of courtship,” adds Tyrwhitt, “very consonant to the spirit of ancient chivalry.” ↩
-
In the older editions, the verses here given as the prologue were prefixed to the “Merchant’s Tale,” and put into his mouth. Tyrwhitt was abundantly justified, by the internal evidence afforded by the lines themselves, in transferring them to their present place. ↩
-
Allow, approve. ↩
-
So far as my judgement goes. ↩
-
Value, esteem. ↩
-
It were dearer to me; I would rather. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Rebuked; “snubbed.” ↩
-
Apply himself. ↩
-
Knowest. ↩
-
Promise. ↩
-
The “Breton Lays” were an important and curious element in the literature of the Middle Ages; they were originally composed in the Armorican language, and the chief collection of them extant was translated into French verse by a poetess calling herself “Marie,” about the middle of the thirteenth century. But though this collection was the most famous, and had doubtless been read by Chaucer, there were other British or Breton lays, and from one of those the “Franklin’s Tale” is taken. Boccaccio has dealt with the same story in the Decameron and the Philocopo, altering the circumstances to suit the removal of its scene to a southern clime. ↩
-
Rude, unlearned. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Strange. ↩
-
Devoted himself, strove. ↩
-
Hardly, for fear that she would not entertain his suit. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Suffering, distress. ↩
-
Show. ↩
-
Would to God there may never be war or strife between us, through my fault. ↩
-
Burst. ↩
-
Perhaps the true reading is “beteth”—prepares, makes ready, his wings for flight. ↩
-
By nature. ↩
-
Slave. ↩
-
Enjoys the highest advantages of all. ↩
-
Prosper. ↩
-
The influence of the planets. ↩
-
Revenged. ↩
-
According to. ↩
-
Is capable of. ↩
-
Promised. ↩
-
Surely. ↩
-
On the west coast of Brittany, between Brest and L’Orient. The name is composed of two British words, pen, mountain, and mark, region; it therefore means the mountainous country ↩
-
Delight. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
“The red city;” it is not known where it was situated. ↩
-
Prepared, arranged. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
Cease speaking. ↩
-
Sigheth. ↩
-
Assiduity. ↩
-
To diminish, slacken. ↩
-
Saw. ↩
-
Part. ↩
-
Cured; French, guerir, to heal, or recover from sickness. ↩
-
Black. ↩
-
Look out on the sea. ↩
-
Painful sighs. ↩
-
Idly, in vain. ↩
-
Works mischief; from Latin, nocco, I hurt. ↩
-
Though they are forgotten. ↩
-
Image. ↩
-
Love, affection; from French, cher, dear. ↩
-
Pleaseth. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Provision, arrangement. ↩
-
So much to be valued or praised. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
In my judgement. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Esteem, value. ↩
-
Without the knowledge. ↩
-
Fortune. ↩
-
Betray. ↩
-
Ballads; the virelai was an ancient French poem of two rhymes. ↩
-
Thence; from the garden. ↩
-
For a long time. ↩
-
Gladden. ↩
-
Reward. ↩
-
Buried. ↩
-
Cause me to die. ↩
-
Before. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Playfully, in jest. ↩
-
From end to end of. ↩
-
Prevent. ↩
-
Value, pleasure. ↩
-
Sigheth. ↩
-
Escape. ↩
-
Prayer. ↩
-
Wandered, went. ↩
-
Dwelling, situation. ↩
-
Compassionate. ↩
-
Undone. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Pleaseth. ↩
-
Tell, explain. ↩
-
Helped. ↩
-
Quickened. ↩
-
Cause. ↩
-
Burst. ↩
-
Promise. ↩
-
If she do not. ↩
-
Distress. ↩
-
Whether. ↩
-
He cared not to fancy. ↩
-
Fear, suspicion. ↩
-
Occupied himself with. ↩
-
Scholar, man in holy orders. ↩
-
In a Latin poem, very popular in Chaucer’s time, Pamphilus relates his amour with Galatea, setting out with the idea adopted by our poet in the lines that follow. ↩
-
A wound healed on the surface, but festering beneath. ↩
-
Except. ↩
-
Where there was a celebrated and very famous university, afterwards eclipsed by that of Paris. It was founded by Philip le Bel in 1312. ↩
-
Eager, curious. ↩
-
Every nook and corner. Anglo-Saxon, healc, a nook; hyrn, a corner. ↩
-
Saw. ↩
-
Though. ↩
-
Belief, creed. ↩
-
Cured. ↩
-
Certain. ↩
-
Tricksters, jugglers. The word is probably derived—in treget, deceit or imposture—from the French trebuchet, a military machine; since it is evident that much and elaborate machinery must have been employed to produce the effects afterwards described. Another derivation is from the Low Latin, tricator, a deceiver. ↩
-
Vanished, removed. ↩
-
Learned man. ↩
-
Vanished, removed. ↩
-
Cured. ↩
-
Keep her promise. ↩
-
Gone. ↩
-
Eased of, released from; another form of “less” or “lessen.” ↩
-
All but. ↩
-
Civilly. ↩
-
Greeted. ↩
-
Days. ↩
-
Gone, removed. ↩
-
Passed away. ↩
-
The river, formed by the union of the Dordogne and Garonne, on which Bourdeaux stands. ↩
-
And even for that sum he would not willingly go to work. ↩
-
Agreed. ↩
-
I pledge my faith on it. ↩
-
Had a respite, relief, from anguish. ↩
-
Coloured like copper or latten. ↩
-
Beams. ↩
-
Courtyard, garden. ↩
-
Noel, the French for Christmas—derived from natalis, and signifying that on that day Christ was born—came to be used as a festive cry by the people on solemn occasions. ↩
-
Pity. ↩
-
Tricks. ↩
-
Detestable villany. ↩
-
Toledan tables; the astronomical tables composed by order Of Alphonso II, King of Castile, about 1250 and so called because they were adapted to the city of Toledo. ↩
-
“Alnath,” Says Mr. Wright, was “the first star in the horns of Aries, whence the first mansion of the moon is named.” ↩
-
Wicked devices. ↩
-
Another and better reading is “a week or two.” ↩
-
Whether. ↩
-
Removed. ↩
-
Fearful. ↩
-
Mien. ↩
-
Distress, affliction. ↩
-
Bewail. ↩
-
Promised. ↩
-
Cause. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Scarcely. ↩
-
Complain. ↩
-
Sooner, rather. ↩
-
I may certainly purchase my exemption. ↩
-
They are all taken from the book of St. Jerome Contra Jovinianum, from which the “Wife of Bath” drew so many of her ancient instances. See note 1741. ↩
-
Wickedness. ↩
-
Suddenly leaped. ↩
-
Forcibly bereft. ↩
-
Caught, clasped. ↩
-
Pluck away by force. ↩
-
Same. ↩
-
Slay. ↩
-
Ravished. ↩
-
Panthea. Abradatas, King of Susa, was an ally of the Assyrians against Cyrus; and his wife was taken at the conquest of the Assyrian camp. Struck by the honourable treatment she received at the captors hands, Abradatas joined Cyrus, and fell in battle against his former alhes. His wife, inconsolable at his loss, slew herself immediately. ↩
-
Better. ↩
-
In circumstances of the same kind. ↩
-
Avenged, vindicated. ↩
-
Chose. ↩
-
Her husband. She begged the gods, after his death, that but three hours’ converse with him might be allowed her; the request was granted; and when her dead husband, at the expiry of the time, returned to the world of shades, she bore him company. ↩
-
The daughter of Cato of Utica, Porcia married Marcus Brutus, the friend and the assassin of Julius Caesar; when her husband died by his own hand after the battle of Philippi, she committed suicide, it is said, by swallowing live coals—all other means having been removed by her friends. ↩
-
Artemisia, Queen of Caria, who built to her husband Mausolus, the splendid monument which was accounted among the wonders of the world; and who mingled her husband’s ashes with her daily drink. “Barbarie” is used in the Greek sense, to designate the non-Hellenic peoples of Asia. ↩
-
Queen of Illyria, who, after her husband’s death, made war on and was conquered by the Romans, BC 228. ↩
-
At this point, in some manuscripts, occur the following two lines:—
“The same thing I say of Bilia,
Of Rhodegone and of Valeria.” -
Die. ↩
-
Demeanour. ↩
-
Relate. ↩
-
Assuredly. ↩
-
If. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
I had rather be slain. ↩
-
Readiest. ↩
-
Prepared; going. To “boun” or “bown” is a good old word, whence comes our word “bound,” in the sense of “on the way.” ↩
-
Promised. ↩
-
Pity. ↩
-
Rather. ↩
-
Rude outrage. ↩
-
Generosity. ↩
-
Rather. ↩
-
Pity. ↩
-
Sunder, split up. ↩
-
Surety. ↩
-
Reproach. ↩
-
Of no (breach of) promise. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Gone. ↩
-
Satisfied. ↩
-
Utterly lost. ↩
-
Promised. ↩
-
Purified, refined. ↩
-
Ruined, undone. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Time to pay up. ↩
-
Gravely. ↩
-
Sighed. ↩
-
Rather. ↩
-
Also. ↩
-
Before. ↩
-
Such an ocular deception, or apparition—more properly, disappearance—as the removal of the rocks. ↩
-
Dear. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Labour, pains. ↩
-
Generous, liberal; the same question is stated a the end of Boccaccio’s version of the story in the Philocopo, where the queen determines in favour of Aviragus. The question is evidently one of those which it was the fashion to propose for debate in the medieval “courts of love.” ↩
-
Know, can tell. ↩
-
The authenticity of the prologue is questionable. It is found in one manuscript only; other manuscripts give other prologues, more plainly not Chaucer’s than this; and some manuscripts have merely a colophon to the effect that “Here endeth the ‘Franklin’s Tale’ and beginneth the ‘Physician’s Tale’ without a prologue.” The “Tale” itself is the well-known story of Virginia, with several departures from the text of Livy. Chaucer probably followed the “Romance of the Rose” and Gower’s Confessio Amantis, in both of which the story is found. ↩
-
Livy, Book III cap. 44, et seqq. ↩
-
Care. ↩
-
Ask. ↩
-
Glory. ↩
-
Beams, rays. ↩
-
Mind, spirit. ↩
-
Moderation. ↩
-
Utterance, speech; from Latin, facundia, eloquence. ↩
-
Diligent, eager. ↩
-
Other readings are “thought” and “youth.” ↩
-
Of old. ↩
-
Governesses, duennas. ↩
-
Wickedness; French, mechancete. ↩
-
Be slack, fail. ↩
-
Forsaken, left. ↩
-
Gluttony. ↩
-
Wicked, evil. ↩
-
Heed. ↩
-
Oversight. ↩
-
Pay for, suffer for. ↩
-
Goodness. ↩
-
Misfortune. ↩
-
This line seems to be a kind of aside thrown in by Chaucer himself. ↩
-
Observing. ↩
-
Bribe, reward. ↩
-
The various readings of this word are “churl,” or “cherl,” in the best manuscripts; “client” in the common editions, and “clerk” supported by two important manuscripts. “Client” would perhaps be the best reading, if it were not awkward for the metre; but between “churl” and “clerk” there can be little doubt that Mr. Wright chose wisely when he preferred the second. ↩
-
Counsel, plot. ↩
-
Arranged. ↩
-
Historical, authentic. ↩
-
Discourse, account. ↩
-
True. ↩
-
Judgments. ↩
-
In haste. ↩
-
Petition. ↩
-
Cause. ↩
-
Know, learn. ↩
-
Slave. ↩
-
Prove. ↩
-
Be not displeased. ↩
-
Villainous. ↩
-
Pronounce, determine. ↩
-
Piercing. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Swerve, turn aside. ↩
-
Saw. ↩
-
Bewail. ↩
-
Judges 11:37, 38. “And she said unto her father, Let … me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows. And he said, go.” ↩
-
Offence. ↩
-
Stern, cruel. ↩
-
Took. ↩
-
Judgement. ↩
-
Thrust. ↩
-
Suspicion. ↩
-
“Cast into gaol,” according to Urry’s explanation; though we should probably understand that, if Claudius had not been sent out of the country, his death would have been secretly contrived through private detestation. ↩
-
Villainy. ↩
-
Desert. ↩
-
Cause a man to tremble because of. ↩
-
Illiterate or learned. ↩
-
Advise. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
The nails and blood of Christ, by which it was then a fashion to swear. ↩
-
Counsellors; those who aid their undertakings. ↩
-
Nevertheless. ↩
-
Innocent. ↩
-
Paid for, suffered for. ↩
-
Profit. ↩
-
No matter. ↩
-
Body. ↩
-
Box; French boite, old form boiste. ↩
-
Thrive. ↩
-
In set form. ↩
-
Makest. ↩
-
Grieve; from Anglo-Saxon, earme, wretched. ↩
-
Heartache; from Greek, καρδιαλγια. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
A remedy. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Broken, burst. ↩
-
Jokes. ↩
-
Alehouse sign. ↩
-
Learn. ↩
-
Wisdom, sense. ↩
-
Surely. ↩
-
The outline of this “Tale” is to be found in the Cento Novelle Antiche, but the original is now lost. As in the case of the “Wife of Bath’s Tale,” there is a long prologue, but in this case it has been treated as part of the “Tale.” ↩
-
Take pains, make an effort. ↩
-
Loud, lofty; from French, hautain. ↩
-
“The love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Tim. 6:10). ↩
-
For the protection of my person. ↩
-
Rags, fragments. ↩
-
As my auditors think. ↩
-
Brass. ↩
-
Heed. ↩
-
Heed. ↩
-
Owneth. ↩
-
Mistrust. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Glove, mitten. ↩
-
Confessed. ↩
-
Cuckold. ↩
-
Jest, trick. ↩
-
Ignorant. ↩
-
Jests. ↩
-
Barn. ↩
-
Briskly. ↩
-
Wickedness. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
The meaning of this is not very clear, but it is probably a periphrastic and picturesque way of indicating damnation. ↩
-
Preaching is often inspired by evil motives. ↩
-
Sharply. ↩
-
Escape. ↩
-
Offended. ↩
-
Am I revenged on. ↩
-
Depart. ↩
-
Unlearned. ↩
-
Because. ↩
-
In respect of the poverty enjoined on and practised by them. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Guitars. ↩
-
Dreadful; fitted to agrise or horrify the listener. ↩
-
See note 759. Mr. Wright says: “The common oaths in the Middle Ages were by the different parts of God’s body; and the popular preachers represented that profane swearers tore Christ’s body by their imprecations.” The idea was doubtless borrowed from the passage in Hebrews (6:6), where apostates are said to “crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.” ↩
-
Laughed. ↩
-
Female dancers or tumblers; from Anglo-Saxon, tumban, to dance. ↩
-
Dainty. ↩
-
Fruit-girls. ↩
-
Revellers. ↩
-
Cake-sellers. ↩
-
“Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.” (Eph. 5:18). ↩
-
Unnaturally. ↩
-
The reference is probably to the diligent inquiries Herod made at the time of Christ’s birth. See Matt. 2:4–8. ↩
-
Command. ↩
-
A drunkard. “Perhaps,” says Tyrwhitt, “Chaucer refers to Epist. LXXXIII, ‘Extende in plures dies illum ebrii habitum; nunquid de furore dubitabis? nunc quoque non est minor sed brevior.’ ” ↩
-
Madness. ↩
-
One evil-tempered. ↩
-
Atoned for. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Forbidden. St. Jerome, in his book against Jovinian, says that so long as Adam fasted, he was in Paradise; he ate, and he was thrust out. ↩
-
Moderate. ↩
-
Labour. ↩
-
“Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats; but God shall destroy both it and them.” (1 Cor. 6:13). ↩
-
Wine. ↩
-
See Phil. 3:18, 19. ↩
-
Cross; French, croix. ↩
-
Bag; Anglo-Saxon, codde; hence peas-cod, pin-cod (pincushion), etc. ↩
-
Supply. ↩
-
Sweet. ↩
-
Compare with the lines which follow, the picture of the drunken messenger in the “Man of Law’s Tale,” here. ↩
-
Care. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
A town near Cadiz, whence a stronger wine than the Gascon vintages afforded was imported to England. French wine was often adulterated with the cheaper and stronger Spanish. ↩
-
Another reading is “Fleet Street.” ↩
-
Learn. ↩
-
He was suffocated in the night by a haemorrhage, brought on by a debauch, when he was preparing a new invasion of Italy, in 453. ↩
-
Consider, bethink. ↩
-
“It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink; lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.” Prov. 31:4, 5. ↩
-
Forbid gaming. ↩
-
Lies. ↩
-
Property. ↩
-
Reproach. ↩
-
Undone, worthless. ↩
-
Most manuscripts, evidently in error, have “Stilbon” and “Calidone” for Chilon and Lacedaemon. Chilon was one of the seven sages of Greece, and flourished about BC 590. According to Diogenes Laertius, he died, under the pressure of age and joy, in the arms of his son, who had just been crowned victor at the Olympic games. ↩
-
Reproach. ↩
-
Gamesters. ↩
-
Rather. ↩
-
“Swear not at all;” Christ’s words in Matt. 5:34. ↩
-
Jeremiah 4:2. ↩
-
Judgement. ↩
-
Wickedness. ↩
-
Commandments. ↩
-
In vain. ↩
-
Sooner. ↩
-
Flatly, plainly. ↩
-
The nails that fastened Christ on the cross, which were regarded with superstitious reverence. ↩
-
An abbey in Gloucestershire, where, under the designation of “the blood of Hailes,” a portion of Christ’s blood was preserved. ↩
-
A term of opprobrious reprobation, applied to the dice. ↩
-
Before. ↩
-
Servant. ↩
-
A hunting phrase; apparently its force is, “go beat up the game.” ↩
-
Whit. ↩
-
Completely drunk. ↩
-
Watchful, on one’s guard. ↩
-
Lest, in case. ↩
-
Worthy. ↩
-
At one. ↩
-
Born; a better reading is “sworen.” ↩
-
Dreadful. ↩
-
Catch. ↩
-
Greeted. ↩
-
Preserve, look upon graciously. ↩
-
Closely wrapt up. ↩
-
Miserable wretch. ↩
-
Dear. ↩
-
To wrap myself in. ↩
-
Withered. ↩
-
Except. ↩
-
To meet. ↩
-
Advise. ↩
-
Spy. ↩
-
Suffer for. ↩
-
Desired a thing. ↩
-
Joke, frolic. ↩
-
Weened, thought. ↩
-
Cause us to be hanged. ↩
-
My advice is. ↩
-
Lots. ↩
-
Quickly. ↩
-
What is for thine advantage. ↩
-
Divided. ↩
-
Contrive. ↩
-
Know not. ↩
-
Secret, in confidence. ↩
-
Wicked wretch. ↩
-
Sat down. ↩
-
Pleasures. ↩
-
Agreed. ↩
-
Wicked wretch. ↩
-
Two; German, zwei. ↩
-
Leading such a (bad) life. ↩
-
Kill, destroy, his rats. ↩
-
Farmyard, hedge. Compare the French, haie. ↩
-
Slain. ↩
-
Revenge. ↩
-
Surery. ↩
-
Amount. ↩
-
Lay down, quit. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
At a pace, quickly; so, on several occasions, Chaucer speaks of “a furlong,” or one or two furlongs, when he means to denote a brief lapse of time. See note 1116, for an instance. ↩
-
Taken. ↩
-
Purposed. ↩
-
Labour. ↩
-
Talk, discourse. ↩
-
Contrived, plotted. ↩
-
By chance. ↩
-
Died. ↩
-
Avicen, or Avicenna, was among the distinguished physicians of the Arabian school in the eleventh century, and very popular in the Middle Ages. His great work was called Canon Medicinae, and was divided into fens, fennes, or sections. ↩
-
Outrage, impiety. ↩
-
Unnatural. ↩
-
Guard, keep. ↩
-
Warish, heal. ↩
-
Sterling money. ↩
-
Absolve. Compare the Scotch law-term assoilzie, to acquit. ↩
-
Physician of souls. ↩
-
Go. ↩
-
Absolve. Compare the Scotch law-term assoilzie, to acquit. ↩
-
Both great and small. ↩
-
Would counsel. ↩
-
So the ich—so may I thrive. ↩
-
Saint Helen, according to Sir John Mandeville, found the cross of Christ deep below ground, under a rock, where the Jews had hidden it; and she tested the genuineness of the sacred tree, by raising to life a dead man laid upon it. ↩
-
Laughed. ↩
-
Nearer. ↩
-
In this “Tale” Chaucer seems to have followed an old French story, which also formed the groundwork of the first story in the eighth day of the Decameron. The prologue here given was transferred by Tyrwhitt from the place, preceding the “Squire’s Tale,” which it had formerly occupied; the “Shipman’s Tale” having no prologue in the best manuscripts. ↩
-
Discreet, profitable. ↩
-
Thy promise formerly. ↩
-
Know, are capable of telling. ↩
-
A contemptuous name for the followers of Wyckliffe; presumably derived from the Latin, lolium, tares, as if they were the tares among the Lord’s wheat; so, a few lines below, the Shipman intimates his fear lest the Parson should “spring cockle in our clean corn.” ↩
-
Worthy. ↩
-
Comment upon. ↩
-
Tares, weeds; the Agrostemma githago of Linnaeus; perhaps named from the Anglo-Saxon, ceocan, because it chokes the corn. ↩
-
Belly. ↩
-
Fond of society and merrymaking. ↩
-
Simple. ↩
-
Always; or, however. ↩
-
So in all the manuscripts and from this and the following lines, it must be inferred that Chaucer had intended to put the “Tale” in the mouth of a female speaker. ↩
-
Resort of visitors. ↩
-
Constantly. ↩
-
Claimed cousinship, kindred, with him. ↩
-
A title bestowed on priests and scholars; from Dominus, like the Spanish Don. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Liberal outlay. ↩
-
Afterwards. ↩
-
Household, servants. ↩
-
Resolved, arranged. ↩
-
Merchandise. Bruges was in Chaucer’s time the great emporium of European commerce. ↩
-
Enjoy himself. ↩
-
Tell. ↩
-
To inspect and manage the rural property of the monastery. ↩
-
Jar. ↩
-
Malvesie or Malmesy wine derived its name from Malvasia, a region of the Morea near Cape Malea, where it was made, as it also was on Chios and some other Greek islands. As to vernage, see note 2887. ↩
-
Malvesie or Malmesy wine derived its name from Malvasia, a region of the Morea near Cape Malea, where it was made, as it also was on Chios and some other Greek islands. As to vernage, see note 2887. ↩
-
Wild fowl, birds for the table; French, volatille, volaille. ↩
-
Seriously deliberated on his affairs. ↩
-
Countinghouse; French, comptoir. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Detain from, hinder. ↩
-
Guide. ↩
-
Rod; in pupillage; a phrase properly used of children, but employed by the Clerk in the prologue to his tale. See note 2426. ↩
-
Early. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Pallid, wasted. ↩
-
Stare. ↩
-
Distracted, confounded. ↩
-
Ruin. ↩
-
Distress. ↩
-
Breviary. ↩
-
Willing or unwilling. ↩
-
Though the alternative should be. ↩
-
Confidence, promise. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Assuredly. ↩
-
By my vows of religion. ↩
-
Pleasant. ↩
-
Becomes. ↩
-
Forbid. ↩
-
Stinginess. ↩
-
Brave. ↩
-
Vielding, obedient. ↩
-
Same. ↩
-
Ruined, undone. ↩
-
I would rather. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
With my goodwill; if I can help it. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Genelon, Ganelon, or Ganilion; one of Charlemagne’s officers, whose treachery was the cause of the disastrous defeat of the Christians by the Saracens at Roncevalles; he was torn to pieces by four horses. ↩
-
Pity. ↩
-
Gone. ↩
-
Haste. ↩
-
Who is there? ↩
-
Sending, gifts. ↩
-
From French, eloigner, to remove; it may mean either the lonely, cheerless condition of the priest, or the strange behaviour of the merchant in leaving him to himself. ↩
-
Strange. ↩
-
Consider. ↩
-
Trading. ↩
-
Civil, courteous. ↩
-
Shut. ↩
-
Hinder, delay. ↩
-
Moderately. ↩
-
Particularly. ↩
-
Ado, ceremony. ↩
-
With which to store. ↩
-
Great thanks. ↩
-
Handsomely, like a gentleman. ↩
-
Merchandise. ↩
-
God forbid that you should take too little. ↩
-
Obtain credit; French, créance, credit. ↩
-
After. ↩
-
Servant-boy. ↩
-
Servants. ↩
-
Merchandise. ↩
-
Raise money by means of a borrowing agreement; from French, achever, to finish; the general meaning of the word is a bargain, an agreement. ↩
-
Crowns; French, écu. ↩
-
Took. ↩
-
Love. ↩
-
Know. ↩
-
Company. ↩
-
Glad. ↩
-
By his journey to Bruges. ↩
-
Expenses. ↩
-
Always. ↩
-
Spent. ↩
-
A kind of estrangement, coolness. ↩
-
Was displeased. ↩
-
Borrowing. ↩
-
Care. ↩
-
Whit. ↩
-
Thriving, success; from the verb “the,” thrive. ↩
-
Profit, advantage. ↩
-
Danger, awkward position. ↩
-
In pledge. ↩
-
Liberal, lavish. ↩
-
Ever so much evil. Last means a load, quad, bad; and literally we may read “a thousand weight of bad years.” The Italians use mal anno in the same sense. ↩
-
Trick. ↩
-
To put an ape in one’s hood, on one’s head, is to befool or deceive him. ↩
-
Offend. ↩
-
Judge, decide. ↩
-
Tales of the murder of children by Jews were frequent in the Middle Ages, being probably designed to keep up the bitter feeling of the Christians against the Jews. Not a few children were canonised on this account; and the scene of the misdeeds was laid anywhere and everywhere, so that Chaucer could be at no loss for material. ↩
-
Psalms 8:1. “Domine, dominus noster, quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra.” ↩
-
Praise. ↩
-
Glory. “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength.” (Psalms 8:2). ↩
-
Goodness. ↩
-
Help. ↩
-
Bounteous. ↩
-
The spirit that on thee alighted; the Holy Ghost through whose power Christ was conceived. ↩
-
Lightened, gladdened. ↩
-
Skill, ability. ↩
-
Scarcely. ↩
-
A quarter which the Jews were permitted to inhabit; the Old Jewry in London got its name in this way. ↩
-
Go, walk. ↩
-
A young clerk or scholar. ↩
-
To study, go to school, was his wont. ↩
-
Simple, innocent. ↩
-
Learn. ↩
-
Who, even in his swaddling clothes—so says the Breviarium Romanum—gave promise of extraordinary virtue and holiness; for, though he sucked freely on other days, on Wednesdays and Fridays he applied to the breast only once, and that not until the evening. ↩
-
“O Alma Redemptoris Mater;” the beginning of a hymn to the Virgin. ↩
-
Book of anthems, or psalms, chanted in the choir by alternate verses. ↩
-
Nearer. ↩
-
Meant. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Learn; con. ↩
-
Disgraced. ↩
-
On the way home. ↩
-
Knew. ↩
-
Cease. ↩
-
Creditable, becoming. ↩
-
Seized. ↩
-
French, garderobe, a privy. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Confirmed; from French, soulde; Latin, solidatus. ↩
-
Continually. ↩
-
See Revelations 14:3, 4. ↩
-
Asked, inquired; from Anglo-Saxon, frinan, fraegnian. Compare German, fragen. ↩
-
Emerald. ↩
-
Cut. ↩
-
Praised. ↩
-
Caused. ↩
-
Caused. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Countenance, overlook. ↩
-
Scarcely. ↩
-
Lasted. ↩
-
Embrace or salute; implore: from Anglo-Saxon hals, the neck. ↩
-
In course of nature. ↩
-
Glory. ↩
-
Fountain. ↩
-
Knowledge. ↩
-
Leave. ↩
-
Afraid. ↩
-
Praising. ↩
-
Grant; lend. ↩
-
A boy said to have been slain by the Jews at Lincoln in 1255, according to Matthew Paris. Many popular ballads were made about the event, which the diligence of the Church doubtless kept fresh in mind at Chaucer’s day. ↩
-
Merciful. ↩
-
This prologue is interesting, for the picture which it gives of Chaucer himself; riding apart from and indifferent to the rest of the pilgrims, with eyes fixed on the ground, and an elvish, morose, or rather self-absorbed air; portly, if not actually stout, in body; and evidently a man out of the common, as the closing words of the Host imply. ↩
-
Serious. ↩
-
Talk lightly. ↩
-
For the first time. ↩
-
Referring to the poet’s corpulency. ↩
-
Surly, morose. ↩
-
Dissatisfied. ↩
-
Know. ↩
-
Long. ↩
-
Expression, mien. ↩
-
“The Rhyme of Sir Thopas,” as it is generally called, is introduced by Chaucer as a satire on the dull, pompous, and prolix metrical romances then in vogue. It is full of phrases taken from the popular rhymesters in the vein which he holds up to ridicule; if, indeed—though of that there is no evidence—it be not actually part of an old romance which Chaucer selected and reproduced to point his assault on the prevailing taste in literature. ↩
-
Truly. ↩
-
Delight, solace. ↩
-
Gentle. ↩
-
Poppering, or Poppeling, a parish in the marches of Calais of which the famous antiquary Leland was once Rector. ↩
-
Either pain de matin, morning bread, or pain de Maine, because it was made best in that province; a kind of fine white bread. ↩
-
Or rudde; complexion. ↩
-
Cordovan; fine Spanish leather, so called from the name of the city where it was prepared ↩
-
A rich Oriental stuff of silk and gold, of which was made the circular robe of state called a “ciclaton,” from the Latin, cyclas. The word is French. ↩
-
A Genoese coin, of small value; in our old statutes called gallihalpens, or galley halfpence. ↩
-
Fruit of the dog-rose, hip. ↩
-
Mounted. ↩
-
Spear; azagay is the name of a Moorish weapon, and the identity of termination is singular. ↩
-
Befallen. ↩
-
Valerian. ↩
-
Clove-gilliflower; Caryophyllus hortensis. ↩
-
Sparrowhawk. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Inclination, spirit. ↩
-
This. ↩
-
Mistress. ↩
-
Shirt, garment. ↩
-
Assuredly. ↩
-
Haunt. ↩
-
Literally, “Sir Elephant;” Sir John Mandeville calls those animals “Olyfauntes.” ↩
-
Young man. ↩
-
A pagan or Saracen deity, otherwise named Tervagan, and often mentioned in Middle Age literature. His name has passed into our language, to denote a ranter or blusterer, as be was represented to be. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Thrive. ↩
-
Suffer for. ↩
-
Belly. ↩
-
Slain. ↩
-
Whisper. ↩
-
Cause. ↩
-
Tellers of tales of adventure and chivalry. ↩
-
So called because they related to Charlemagne and his family. ↩
-
Drinking-bowl of maple. ↩
-
Tried, refined. ↩
-
Put on, donned. ↩
-
Skin. ↩
-
Fine lawn. ↩
-
Cassock. ↩
-
Sleeves and gorget of mail. ↩
-
Plate-armour. ↩
-
Magicians’. ↩
-
Knight’s surcoat. ↩
-
Fight. ↩
-
Carbuncle; French, escarboucle; a heraldic device. ↩
-
Boots; from French, jambe, the leg. ↩
-
Cuir boulli, French, boiled or prepared leather; also used to cover shields, etc. ↩
-
Brass, or latten. ↩
-
No satisfactory explanation has been furnished of this word, used to describe some material from which rich saddles were made. ↩
-
Division of a metrical romance. ↩
-
Try. ↩
-
Tale, discourse, from Anglo-Saxon, spellian, to declare, tell a story. ↩
-
Gallantry. ↩
-
Worth, esteem. ↩
-
Sir Bevis of Hampton, and Sir Guy of Warwick, two knights of great renown. ↩
-
One of Arthur’s knights, called “Ly beau desconus,” “the fair unknown.” ↩
-
Glowed, shone as he rode. ↩
-
Torch. ↩
-
Harm. ↩
-
Adventurous. ↩
-
Lie. ↩
-
Pillow; from Anglo-Saxon, wangere, because the wanges; or cheeks, rested on it. ↩
-
Destrier, French, a warhorse; in Latin, dextrarius, as if led by the right hand. ↩
-
Sir Percival de Galois, whose adventures were written in more than 60,000 verses by Chretien de Troyes, one of the oldest and best French romancers, in 1191. ↩
-
Illiterates, stupidity. Chaucer crowns the satire on the romanticists by making the very landlord of the Tabard cry out in indignant disgust against the stuff which he had heard recited—the good Host ascribing to sheer ignorance the string of pompous platitudes and prosaic details which Chaucer had uttered. ↩
-
Surely. ↩
-
Worthless, vile; no better than draff or dregs; from the Anglo-Saxon, drifan to drive away, expel. ↩
-
Commend to. ↩
-
Prevent. ↩
-
Spendrest, wastest. ↩
-
Whether. ↩
-
By way of narrative. ↩
-
Some amusement or instruction. ↩
-
Suffering. ↩
-
Ought to please you. ↩
-
Fastidious. ↩
-
Although it be. ↩
-
Agony, passion. ↩
-
Sooth, true. ↩
-
Meaning. ↩
-
With which to enforce. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
The “Tale of Meliboeus” is literally translated from a French story, or rather “treatise,” in prose, entitled Le Livre de Melibee et de Dame Prudence, of which two manuscripts, both dating from the fifteenth century, are preserved in the British Museum. Tyrwhitt, justly enough, says of it that it is indeed, as Chaucer called it in the prologue, “ ‘a moral tale virtuous,’ and was probably much esteemed in its time; but, in this age of levity, I doubt some readers will be apt to regret that he did not rather give us the remainder of Sir Thopas.” It has been remarked that in the earlier portion of the “Tale,” as it left the hand of the poet, a number of blank verses were intermixed; though this peculiarity of style, noticeable in any case only in the first 150 or 200 lines, has necessarily all but disappeared by the changes of spelling made in the modern editions. The Editor’s purpose being to present to the public not The Canterbury Tales merely, but “The Poems of Chaucer,” so far as may be consistent with the limits of this volume, he has condensed the long reasonings and learned quotations of Dame Prudence into a mere outline, connecting those portions of the Tale wherein lies so much of story as it actually possesses, and the general reader will probably not regret the sacrifice, made in the view of retaining so far as possible the completeness of the Tales, while lessening the intrusion of prose into a volume or poems. The good wife of Meliboeus literally overflows with quotations from David, Solomon, Jesus the Son of Sirach, the Apostles, Ovid, Cicero, Seneca, Cassiodorus, Cato, Petrus Alphonsus—the converted Spanish Jew, of the twelfth century, who wrote the “Disciplina Clericalis”—and other authorities; and in some passages, especially where husband and wife debate the merits or demerits of women, and where Prudence dilates on the evils of poverty, Chaucer only reproduces much that had been said already in the tales that preceded—such as the “Merchant’s” and the “Man of Law’s.” ↩
-
Notwhithstanding. ↩
-
“Quis matrem, nisi mentis inops, in funere nati
Ovid, “Remedia Amoris,” 127–131.
Flere vetet? non hoc illa monenda loco.
Cum dederit lacrymas, animumque expleverit aegrum,
Ille dolor verbis emoderandus erit.” -
Cease. ↩
-
Be healed. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Moderate. ↩
-
Forbidden. ↩
-
Moderation should be kept or observed. ↩
-
Doctrine. ↩
-
Lost. ↩
-
Lost. ↩
-
Advantage, remedy. ↩
-
Do injury. ↩
-
Also. ↩
-
Opinion. ↩
-
Caused to be summoned. ↩
-
Employed, retained. ↩
-
To take sides in a quarrel. ↩
-
Healing. ↩
-
Made worse and aggravated the matter. ↩
-
Business. ↩
-
Opinion. ↩
-
Observation, looking out. ↩
-
Determine. ↩
-
Nevertheless. ↩
-
Subject for reproach. ↩
-
A sign, gesture. ↩
-
Easily. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Thought, intended. ↩
-
Troublesome. ↩
-
Besides, further. ↩
-
Agreed. ↩
-
Opinion, judgement. ↩
-
See the conversation between Pluto and Proserpine, ante, pp. 113 and 114. ↩
-
“Thy name,” she says, “is Meliboeus; that is to say, a man that drinketh honey.” ↩
-
Distress, trouble. ↩
-
Affair, emergency. ↩
-
Knowledge. ↩
-
The ill-natured or angry. ↩
-
Gentle, courteous. ↩
-
Penalty. ↩
-
Consideration. ↩
-
Forbiddeth. ↩
-
Nature. ↩
-
Prepare. ↩
-
Sureties. ↩
-
Incurred guilt. ↩
-
Courtesy, gentleness. ↩
-
Merciful. ↩
-
Wickedly. ↩
-
Incurred guilt. ↩
-
Sureties. ↩
-
Inquired. ↩
-
Easily. ↩
-
Honour. ↩
-
Further. ↩
-
Reputation; from the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon, hlisan, to celebrate. Compare Latin, laus. ↩
-
Moderation. ↩
-
If I assume. ↩
-
Decide. ↩
-
Endeavour, devise a way. ↩
-
Easily. ↩
-
Arguments, reasons. ↩
-
Ignorance. ↩
-
Misbehaved. ↩
-
Done injury. ↩
-
Merciful. ↩
-
The body of St. Maternus, of Treves. ↩
-
Rather. ↩
-
Dear. ↩
-
Bow. ↩
-
Bold enough to offend her. ↩
-
Leaps, springs. ↩
-
Avenge. ↩
-
Destined. ↩
-
Overborne, imposed upon. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Betake myself. ↩
-
Make. ↩
-
Take to flight. ↩
-
That does or says anything to displease her. ↩
-
One doing penance. ↩
-
In my judgement; for doom. ↩
-
Sinews. ↩
-
A cock. ↩
-
An ecclesiastcal vestment covering all the body like a cloak. ↩
-
It. ↩
-
Crown; though he were shorn full high upon his pan: though he were tonsured, as the clergy are. ↩
-
Undone, ruined. ↩
-
Lay, unlettered. ↩
-
Puny, contemptible creatures. ↩
-
Shoots, branches; from Anglo-Saxon, impian, German, impfen, to implant, ingraft. The word is now used in a very restricted sense, to signify the progeny, children, of the devil. ↩
-
Base or counterfeit coins; so called because struck at Luxembourg. A great importation of them took place during the reigns of the earlier Edwards, and they caused much annoyance and complaint, till in 1351 it was declared treason to bring them into the country. ↩
-
Is in harmony with good manners. ↩
-
Means. ↩
-
According to the dates at which they lived. ↩
-
The “Monk’s Tale” is founded in its main features on Bocccacio’s work, De Casibus Virorum Illustrium; but Chaucer has taken the separate stories of which it is composed from different authors, and dealt with them after his own fashion. ↩
-
Hurt. ↩
-
Depart. ↩
-
Boccaccio opens his book with Adam, whose story is told at much greater length than here. Lydgate, in his translation from Boccaccio, speaks of Adam and Eve as made “of slime of the erth in Damascene the felde.” ↩
-
Wielded, had at his command. ↩
-
Misbehaviour. ↩
-
Judges 13:3. Boccaccio also tells the story of Samson; but Chaucer seems, by his quotation a few lines below, to have taken his version direct from the sacred book. ↩
-
Courage. ↩
-
Tore all to pieces. ↩
-
Olive trees; French, oliviers. ↩
-
Was near to perishing. ↩
-
Cheek-tooth. ↩
-
Liber Judicum, the Book of Judges; chap. XV. ↩
-
Plucked, wretched. ↩
-
Loved. ↩
-
Mistress. ↩
-
Chaucer writes it “Dalida.” ↩
-
Lap. ↩
-
Mill; from Anglo-Saxon, cyrran, to turn, cweorn, a mill. ↩
-
Wretched man. ↩
-
The Stymphalian Birds, which fed on human flesh. ↩
-
Busiris, king of Egypt, was wont to sacrifice all foreigners coming to his dominions. Hercules was seized, bound, and led to the altar by his orders, but the hero broke his bonds and slew the tyrant. ↩
-
Devour. ↩
-
A long time. The feats of Hercules here recorded are not all these known as the “twelve labours;” for instance, the cleansing of the Augean stables, and the capture of Hippolyte’s girdle are not in this list—other and less famous deeds of the hero taking their place. For this, however, we must accuse not Chaucer, but Boethius, whom he has almost literally translated, though with some change of order. ↩
-
One of the manuscripts has a marginal reference to “Tropheus vates Chaldaeorum;” but it is not known what author Chaucer meant—unless the reference is to a passage in the “Filostrato” of Boccaccio, on which Chaucer founded his “Troilus and Cressida,” and which Lydgate mentions, under the name of “Trophe,” as having been translated by Chaucer. ↩
-
Blackened. ↩
-
Died. ↩
-
For the moment. ↩
-
Near; French, pres; the meaning seems to be, this nearer, lower world. ↩
-
Scarcely. ↩
-
Took away. ↩
-
Seat. ↩
-
Caused. ↩
-
Slave. ↩
-
End. ↩
-
Bow down, do honour. ↩
-
Thought. ↩
-
Possessed the kingdom. ↩
-
Confirmed. ↩
-
Forefathers. ↩
-
Dismayed. ↩
-
Revenue. ↩
-
Dreaded. ↩
-
Vengeance. ↩
-
Praised. ↩
-
Impiously. ↩
-
Decreed. ↩
-
Punishment. ↩
-
Slain. ↩
-
Power. ↩
-
Security. ↩
-
Chaucer has taken the story of Zenobia from Boccaccio’s work De Claris Mulieribus. ↩
-
Noble qualities. ↩
-
Persia. ↩
-
Caught. ↩
-
Active, nimble. ↩
-
Odenatus, who, for his services to the Romans, received from Gallienus the title of “Augustus;” he was assassinated in AD 266—not, it was believed, without the connivance of Zenobia, who succeeded him on the throne. ↩
-
Together. ↩
-
Loved. ↩
-
Again. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Whether. ↩
-
On other terms, in other wise. ↩
-
Learning. ↩
-
Bountiful with due moderation. ↩
-
Laborious. ↩
-
Plate; French, vaisselle. ↩
-
Precious stones. ↩
-
Did not neglect. ↩
-
Apply. ↩
-
Make. ↩
-
Of Persia, who made the Emperor Valerian prisoner, conquered Syria, and was pressing triumphantly westward when he was met and defeated by Odenatus and Zenobia. ↩
-
Misfortune. ↩
-
Was not. ↩
-
Make war. ↩
-
Slay. ↩
-
Troops. ↩
-
In AD 270. ↩
-
Resolved, prepared. ↩
-
Took. ↩
-
According to. ↩
-
Loaded. ↩
-
Yelleth, shouteth. ↩
-
Wore helmet in obstinate battles. ↩
-
The signification of this word, which is spelled in several ways, is not known. Skinner’s explanation, “another attire,” founded on the spelling autremite, is obviously insufficient. ↩
-
To spin for her maintenance. ↩
-
Great part of this “tragedy” of Nero is really borrowed, however, from the “Romance of the Rose.” ↩
-
Same robe. ↩
-
Pleasure. ↩
-
So little valued. ↩
-
Judge, critic. ↩
-
Learning, letters. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
So intelligent and pliable. ↩
-
Let itself loose, like a hound released from the leash. ↩
-
Tell. ↩
-
Habit. ↩
-
To rise up in his mater’s presence, out of respect. ↩
-
Torture. ↩
-
Cherish. ↩
-
Foolish. ↩
-
Thrust; from Anglo-Saxon, thriccan. ↩
-
Expecteth. ↩
-
Betaken himself. ↩
-
Regarded with friendship. ↩
-
Misguided, misled. ↩
-
Went. ↩
-
Strike. ↩
-
Infamy. ↩
-
He knew no counsel; there was no other resource. ↩
-
Made merry, was amused by the sport. ↩
-
Renounce his religion; so, in the “Man of Law’s Tale,” the Sultaness promises her son that she will “reny her lay;” see here. ↩
-
Commandment. ↩
-
Notice. ↩
-
Barn. ↩
-
As the “tragedy” of Holofernes is founded on the book of Judith, so is that of Antiochus on the 2 Maccabees 9. ↩
-
By the insurgents under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus; 2 Macc. 8. ↩
-
Prepare his chariot. ↩
-
Immediately. ↩
-
Prevented. ↩
-
It so cut and gnawed in his entrails. ↩
-
Unendurable. ↩
-
Vengeance. ↩
-
Impious. ↩
-
Prepare. ↩
-
Chariot. ↩
-
Vengeance. ↩
-
Servants. ↩
-
Loathsome; from Anglo-Saxon, wiaetan, to loathe. ↩
-
Body. ↩
-
Died. ↩
-
Recompense. ↩
-
To sum up his career. ↩
-
Moreover. ↩
-
Tell. ↩
-
Noble. ↩
-
The highest cast on a dicing-cube; here representing the highest favour of fortune. ↩
-
Generosity. ↩
-
Government, dominion. ↩
-
Spirit. ↩
-
Blame. ↩
-
West. ↩
-
Afterwards. ↩
-
He had married his daughter Julia to Caesar; but she died six years before Pompey’s final overthrow. ↩
-
Slain; at the battle of Pharsalia, BC 48. ↩
-
End. ↩
-
Arranged. ↩
-
Daggers. ↩
-
Relate. ↩
-
Assailed. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Dignified propriety. ↩
-
Pained him. ↩
-
Apparently a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon phrase, “ord and end,” meaning the whole, the beginning and the end. ↩
-
Afterwards. ↩
-
Ever be watchful against her. ↩
-
At the opening of the story of Croesus, Chaucer has copied from his own translation of Boethius; but the story is mainly taken from the “Romance of the Rose.” ↩
-
Led. ↩
-
Shed, poured. ↩
-
Refrain. ↩
-
Because. ↩
-
Dream. ↩
-
Dreamed. ↩
-
Glad. ↩
-
Rays. ↩
-
Kingdoms. “This reflection,” says Tyrwhttt, “seems to have been suggested by one which follows soon after the mention of Croesus in the passage just cited from Boethius. ‘What other thing bewail the cryings of tragedies but only the deeds of fortune, that with an awkward stroke, overturneth the realms of great nobley?’ ”—in some manuscripts the four “tragedies” that follow are placed between those of Zenobia and Nero; but although the general reflection with which the “tragedy” of Croesus closes might most appropriately wind up the whole series, the general chronological arrangement which is observed in the other cases recommends the order followed in the text. Besides, since, like several other tales, the Monk’s tragedies were cut short by the impatience of the auditors, it is more natural that the “Tale” should close abruptly, than by such a rhetorical finish as these lines afford. ↩
-
Pedro the Cruel, King of Aragon, against whom his brother Henry rebelled. He was by false pretences inveigled into his brother’s tent, and treacherously slain. Mr. Wright has remarked that “the cause of Pedro, though he was no better than a cruel and reckless tyrant, was popular in England from the very circumstance that Prince Edward (the Black Prince) had embarked in it.” ↩
-
Thy kingdom and revenues. ↩
-
Burning coal. ↩
-
Wickedness, villainy. ↩
-
Not the Oliver of Charlemagne—but a traitorous Oliver of Armorica, corrupted by a bribe. Ganilion was the betrayer of the Christian army at Roncevalles (see note 3738); and his name appears to have been for a long time used in France to denote a traitor. Duguesclin, who betrayed Pedro into his brother’s tent, seems to be intended by the term “Ganilion Oliver,” but if so, Chaucer has mistaken his name, which was Bertrand—perhaps confounding him, as Tyrwhttt suggests, with Oliver du Clisson, another illustrious Breton of those times, who was also Constable of France, after Duguesclin. The arms of the latter are supposed to be described a little above. ↩
-
Breach, ruin. ↩
-
Pierre de Lusignan, King of Cyprus, who captured Alexandria in 1363 (see note 14). He was assassinated in 1369. ↩
-
Guide. ↩
-
Reckon. ↩
-
Know not. ↩
-
Bernabo Visconti, Duke of Milan, was deposed and imprisoned by his nephew, and died a captive in 1385. His death is the latest historical fact mentioned in the tales; and thus it throws the date of their composition to about the sixtieth year of Chaucer’s age. ↩
-
Agony. ↩
-
With difficulty. ↩
-
Cause him to die. ↩
-
Made, born. ↩
-
Dearer. ↩
-
Lap. ↩
-
See. ↩
-
Blame, impute. ↩
-
Thought. ↩
-
Died. ↩
-
Cut off. ↩
-
More at length. ↩
-
Relate. The story of Ugolino is told in the 33rd Canto of the Inferno. ↩
-
Of a surety. ↩
-
Source of distress, annoyance. ↩
-
Delight, comfort. ↩
-
Talked. ↩
-
Were it not for the jingling of you bridle-bells. See note 60. ↩
-
The request is justified by the description of Monk in the prologue as “an outrider, that loved venery;” see here. ↩
-
I have no fondness for jesting. ↩
-
On this Tyrwhitt remarks; “I know not how it has happened, that in the principal modern languages, John, or its equivalent, is a name of contempt or at least of slight. So the Italians use Gianni, from whence Zani; the Spaniards Juan, as Bobo Juan, a foolish John; the French Jean, with various additions; and in English, when we call a man a John, we do not mean it as a title of honour.” The title of “Sir” was usually given by courtesy to priests. ↩
-
Gladden. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Commenced, broached. Compare French, entamer, to cut the first piece off a joint; thence to begin. ↩
-
The “Tale of the Nun’s Priest” is founded on the fifth chapter of an old French metrical “Romance of Renard;” the same story forming one of the fables of Marie, the translator of the Breton Lays. (See note 3215.) Although Dryden was in error when he ascribed the “Tale” to Chaucer’s own invention, still the materials on which he had to operate were out of cornparison more trivial than the result. ↩
-
Somewhat advanced. ↩
-
Her goods and her income. ↩
-
Thrifty management. ↩
-
Maintained. ↩
-
Chamber. ↩
-
Whit. ↩
-
In keeping with her cottage. ↩
-
Moderate. ↩
-
Content of heart. ↩
-
No wise prevented her. ↩
-
Hurt, destroyed. ↩
-
Singed. ↩
-
Kind of day labourer. Tyrwhitt quotes two statutes of Edward III, in which “deys” are included among the servants employed in agricultural pursuits; the name seems to have originally meant a servant who gave his labour by the day, but afterwards to have been appropriated exclusively to one who superintended or worked in a dairy. ↩
-
Courtyard, farmyard. ↩
-
Was not. ↩
-
Equal. ↩
-
Licentiously used for the plural, organs or orgons, corresponding to the plural verb gon in the next line. ↩
-
More punctual. ↩
-
Clock; French, horloge. ↩
-
Indented on the upper edge like the battlements of a castle. ↩
-
Toes. ↩
-
Sociable. ↩
-
Limb. ↩
-
Love. ↩
-
Gone. ↩
-
This seems to have been the refrain of some old song, and its precise meaning is uncertain. It corresponds in cadence with the morning salutation of the cock; and may be taken as a greeting to the sun, which is beloved of Chanticleer, and has just come upon the earth—or in the sense of a more local boast, as vaunting the fairness of his favourite hen above all others in the country round. ↩
-
Oppressed. ↩
-
Afraid. ↩
-
Amiss, in umbrage. ↩
-
I dreamed. ↩
-
Peril, trouble. ↩
-
Dream, vision. ↩
-
I dreamed. ↩
-
Seizure. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
Avoi! is the word here rendered Away! It was frequently used in the French fabliaux, and the Italians employ the word via! in the same sense. ↩
-
Coward. ↩
-
Frightened. ↩
-
Rag, clout, trifle. ↩
-
Braggart. ↩
-
Dreams. ↩
-
Are produced by. ↩
-
Choler, bile. ↩
-
Contention. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
Attach no consequence to; “Somnia ne cares,”—Cato De Moribus, l. II, dist. 32. ↩
-
The rafters of the hall, on which they were perched. ↩
-
Profit, advantage. ↩
-
Nature. ↩
-
The herb so called because by its virtue the centaur Chiron was healed when the poisoned arrow of Hercules had accidentally wounded his foot. ↩
-
The herb “fumitory.” ↩
-
Spurge; a plant of purgative qualities. To its name in the text correspond the Italian catapuzza, and French catapuce—words the origin of which is connected with the effects of the plant. ↩
-
Dogwood berries. ↩
-
Thrive. ↩
-
Opinion. ↩
-
Trial, experience. ↩
-
Cicero, who in his book De Divinatione tells this and the following story, though in contrary order and with many differences. ↩
-
Lodging. ↩
-
Inn. ↩
-
Dreamed. ↩
-
Awoke, started. ↩
-
Again. ↩
-
Slain. ↩
-
Cause that cart to be stopped. ↩
-
Dreamed. ↩
-
Delay. ↩
-
Describe. ↩
-
Loathsome. ↩
-
Or hylled; from Anglo-Saxon helan hid, concealed. ↩
-
Seized. ↩
-
Tortured. ↩
-
Racked. ↩
-
Confessed. ↩
-
I am not prating idly, or lying. ↩
-
As they wish. ↩
-
Prepared, resolved. ↩
-
Dreamed. ↩
-
Depart. ↩
-
Delay. ↩
-
Dismay. ↩
-
Transact my business. ↩
-
Dreams. ↩
-
Tricks. ↩
-
Incoherent, wild imagining. ↩
-
Spend or lose in sloth, loiter away. ↩
-
Time. ↩
-
I am sorry for thee. ↩
-
By an accident. ↩
-
Time. ↩
-
Learn. ↩
-
Kenelm succeeded his father as king of the Saxon realm of Mercia in 811, at the age of seven years; but he was slain by his ambitious aunt Quendrada. The place of his burial was miraculously discovered, and he was subsequently elevated to the rank of a saint and martyr. His life is in the English Golden Legend. ↩
-
The kingdom of Mercia; Anglo-Saxon, Myrcnarice. Compare the second member of the compound in the German, Frankreich, France; Oesterreich, Austria. ↩
-
Saw. ↩
-
Nurse. ↩
-
In all points. ↩
-
Guard. ↩
-
Little significance has he attached to. ↩
-
Cicero (De Republica, lib. VI) wrote the Dream of Scipio, in which the Younger relates the appearance of the Elder Africanus, and the counsels and exhortations which the shade addressed to the sleeper. Macrobius wrote an elaborate Commentary on the Dream of Scipio—a philosophical treatise much studied and relished during the Middle Ages. ↩
-
Significance. ↩
-
Realms. ↩
-
Lost. Andromache’s dream will not be found in Homer; It is related in the book of the fictitious Dares Phrygius, the most popular authority during the Middle Ages for the history of the Trojan War. ↩
-
Hold laxatives of no value. ↩
-
Distrust. ↩
-
Not a whit. ↩
-
Cease. ↩
-
Liberal. ↩
-
Certain. ↩
-
This line is taken from the same fabulous conference between the Emperor Adrian and the philosopher Secundus, whence Chaucer derived some of the arguments in praise of poverty employed in the “Wife of Bath’s Tale” proper. See note 2116. The passage transferred to the text is the commencement of a description of woman. “Quid est mulier? hominis confusio,” etc. ↩
-
Meaning. ↩
-
Delight. ↩
-
Natural instinct. ↩
-
Learning. ↩
-
Voice. ↩
-
Assuredly. ↩
-
Casualty. ↩
-
Rhetorician, orator. ↩
-
A thing supremely notable. ↩
-
A blackish fox, so called because of its likeness to coal, according to Skinner; though more probably the prefix has a reproachful meaning, and is in some way connected with the word “cold” as, some forty lines below, it is applied to the prejudicial counsel of women, and as frequently it is used to describe “sighs” and other tokens of grief, and “cares” or “anxieties.” ↩
-
Dwelt. ↩
-
Burst. ↩
-
Cabbages. ↩
-
In this case, the meaning of “evening” or “afternoon” can hardly be applied to the word, which must be taken to signify some early hour of the forenoon. ↩
-
Crouching. ↩
-
Rafters. ↩
-
Foreknows. ↩
-
Examine the matter thoroughly; a metaphor taken from the sifting of meal, to divide the fine flour from the bran. ↩
-
Thomas Bradwardine, Archbishop of Canterbury in the thirteenth century, who wrote a book, De Causa Dei, in controversy with Pelagius; and also numerous other treatises, among them some on predestination. ↩
-
Foreknowledge. ↩
-
Of inevitable necessity. ↩
-
Foreknows. ↩
-
Knowledge. ↩
-
Constrains, necessitates. ↩
-
Not at all. ↩
-
Mischievous, unwise. ↩
-
Know not. ↩
-
Jest. ↩
-
Conjecture, imagine. ↩
-
Bask. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
In a popular mediaveal Latin treatise by one Theobaldus, entitled Physiologus de Naturis XII Animalium, sirens or mermaids are described as skilled in song, and drawing unwary mariners to destruction by the sweetness of their voices. ↩
-
Cabbages. ↩
-
Then he had no inclination. ↩
-
Enemy. ↩
-
Never before. ↩
-
Voice. ↩
-
Satisfaction. ↩
-
Enjoy, possess, or use. ↩
-
Make such an exertion. ↩
-
“Nigellus Wireker,” says Urry’s Glossary, “a monk and precentor of Canterbury, wrote a Latin poem intituled ‘Speculum Speculorum,’ dedicated to William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, and Lord Chancellor; wherein, under the fable of an Ass (which he calls ‘Burnellus’) that desired a longer tail, is represented the folly of such as are not content with their own condition. There is introduced a tale of a cock, who having his leg broke by a priest’s son (called Gundulfus) watched an opportunity to be revenged; which at last presented itself on this occasion: A day was appointed for Gundulfus’s being admitted into holy orders at a place remote from his father’s habitation; he therefore orders the servants to call him at first cock-crowing, which the cock overhearing did not crow at all that morning. So Gundulfus overslept himself, and was thereby disappointed of his ordination, the office being quite finished before he came to the place.” Wireker’s satire was among the most celebrated and popular Latin poems of the Middle Ages. The Ass was probably as Tyrwhitt suggests, called “Burnel” or “Brunel,” from his brown colour; as, a little below, a reddish fox is called “Russel.” ↩
-
Because. ↩
-
Foolish. ↩
-
Flatterer; French, flatteur. ↩
-
Deceiver, cozener; the word had analogues in the French losengier, and the Spanish lisongero. It is probably connected with leasing, falsehood; which has been derived from Anglo-Saxon hlisan, to celebrate—as if it meant the spreading of a false renown. ↩
-
Truth. ↩
-
Occasion. ↩
-
Master Russet; a name given to the fox, from his reddish colour. ↩
-
Seized him by the throat. ↩
-
Escaped. ↩
-
Recked, regarded. ↩
-
Geoffrey de Vinsauf was the author of a well-known medieval treatise on composition in various poetical styles of which he gave examples. Chaucer’s irony is therefore directed against some grandiose and affected lines on the death of Richard I, intended to illustrate the pathetic style, in which Friday is addressed as “O Veneris lachrymosa dies!” ↩
-
“Priamum altaria ad ipsa trementem
Virgil, Aeneid, II 550.
Traxit, et in multo lapsantem sanguine nati
Implicuitque comam laeva, dextraque coruscum
Extulit, ac lateri capulo tenus abdidit ensem.
Haec finis Priami fatorum.” -
Yard, enclosure. ↩
-
Above all others. ↩
-
Shrieked. ↩
-
Simple, honest. ↩
-
Kill, destroy. ↩
-
The leader of a Kentish rising, in the reign of Richard II, in 1381, by which the Flemish merchants in London were great sufferers. ↩
-
Followers. ↩
-
Trumpets; Anglo-Saxon, bema. ↩
-
Made a popping or tooting sound. ↩
-
Surely. ↩
-
Addressing the pursuers. ↩
-
Nimbly. ↩
-
Offence. ↩
-
Took. ↩
-
Curse. ↩
-
Cause. ↩
-
Thrive. ↩
-
Prateth. ↩
-
For our instruction. See 2 Tim. 3:16. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
A marginal note on a munuscript indicates that some Archbishop of Canterbury is here quoted. ↩
-
A layman. ↩
-
Cock. ↩
-
The brawny parts of the body. ↩
-
The sixteen lines appended to the “Tale of the Nun’s Priest” seem, as Tyrwhitt observes, to commence the prologue to the succeeding “Tale”—but the difficulty is to determine which that “Tale” should be. In earlier editions, the lines formed the opening of the prologue to the “Manciple’s Tale”; but most of the manuscripts acknowledge themselves defective in this part, and give the “Nun’s Tale” after that of the “Nun’s Priest.” In the Harleian manuscript, followed by Mr. Wright, the second “Nun’s Tale,” and the “Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale,” are placed after the “Franklin’s tale”; and the sixteen lines above are not found—the “Manciple’s” prologue coming immediately after the “Amen” of the “Nun’s Priest.” In two manuscripts, the last line of the sixteen runs thus: “Said unto the Nun as ye shall hear;” and six lines more evidently forged, are given to introduce the “Nun’s Tale.” All this confusion and doubt only strengthen the certainty, and deepen the regret, that The Canterbury Tales were left at Chaucer’s, death not merely very imperfect as a whole, but destitute of many finishing touches that would have made them complete so far as the conception had actually been carried into performance. ↩
-
This “Tale” was originally composed by Chaucer as a separate work, and as such it is mentioned in the “Legend of Good Women” under the title of The Life of Saint Cecile. Tyrwhitt quotes the line in which the author calls himself an “unworthy son of Eve,” and that in which he says, “Yet pray I you, that reade what I write,” as internal evidence that the insertion of the poem in the Canterbury Tales was the result of an afterthought; while the whole tenor of the introduction confirms the belief that Chaucer composed it as a writer or translator—not, dramatically, as a speaker. The story is almost literally translated from the Life of St. Cecilia in the Legenda Aurea. ↩
-
Nurse. ↩
-
Delights. ↩
-
Occupation, activity. ↩
-
Endeavour, apply ourselves. ↩
-
Seize. ↩
-
Entangle, bind. ↩
-
Skirt, or lappet, of a garment. ↩
-
Leash, snare; the same as las, oftener used by Chaucer. ↩
-
For which others labour. ↩
-
The nativity and assumption of the Virgin Mary formed the themes of some of St. Bernard’s most eloquent sermons. ↩
-
Dwell. ↩
-
Thou noblest one, as far as our nature admitted. ↩
-
Nature. ↩
-
Wrap. ↩
-
The Trinity. ↩
-
Without remission, unceasingly. ↩
-
Praise. ↩
-
Without blemish. ↩
-
Compare with this stanza to the fourth stanza of the “Prioress’s Tale,” here, the substance of which is the same. ↩
-
Healer, saviour. ↩
-
Banished, outcast. ↩
-
Matthew 15:26, 27. ↩
-
Faith. ↩
-
Delivered from that place where is outer darkness. ↩
-
Same. ↩
-
Latin, coeli lilium. Such punning derivations of proper names were very much in favour in the Middle Ages. The explanations of St. Cecilia’s name are literally taken from the prologue to the Latin legend. ↩
-
Purity. ↩
-
Latin, caeci via. ↩
-
From “Coelum,” and “ligo,” I bind. ↩
-
Qualities. ↩
-
Greek, λαος, ληος, (Ion.) λεως (Att.), the people. ↩
-
Signifies. ↩
-
Spiritually. ↩
-
This passage suggests Horace’s description of the wise man, who, among other things, is “in se ipse totus, teres, atque rotundus.” —Satires, 2, VII 86 ↩
-
Why she had her name. ↩
-
Heart. ↩
-
Garment of haircloth. ↩
-
Guide, keep. ↩
-
Unspotted, blameless. ↩
-
Praying. ↩
-
Secret. ↩
-
If. ↩
-
For the first time. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Govern, dispose of. ↩
-
Believe. ↩
-
Rome. ↩
-
Business. ↩
-
Depart. ↩
-
Lingering, or lying concealed; the Latin original has “Inter sepulchra martyrum latiantem.” ↩
-
Shepherd, keeper. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
Servant, handmaid. ↩
-
But lately, newly. ↩
-
Took, lifted. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Truer. ↩
-
Crowns. ↩
-
Mate, husband. ↩
-
Unspotted, blameless. ↩
-
Decayed. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Request. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Perceived. ↩
-
Into another being or nature. ↩
-
Beloved. ↩
-
Truth. ↩
-
Verily. ↩
-
For the first time. ↩
-
Tell. ↩
-
Renounce. ↩
-
The fourteen lines within brackets are supposed to have been originally an interpolation in the Latin legend, from which they are literally translated. They awkwardly interrupt the flow of the narration. ↩
-
Foresake. ↩
-
Confession. ↩
-
Allot, appropriate. ↩
-
Moreover. ↩
-
Deaf. ↩
-
Believeth. ↩
-
Chosen friend. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Dwelleth. ↩
-
Corners. ↩
-
Burn. ↩
-
Nevertheless. ↩
-
Reasonably. ↩
-
Reasonable. ↩
-
Spirit. ↩
-
Endowed them with a soul. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Dwell. ↩
-
Truth. ↩
-
Wit; the devising or constructive faculty; Latin, ingenium. ↩
-
Employed. ↩
-
Full. ↩
-
Request, favour. ↩
-
Granted, successful. ↩
-
Questioned. ↩
-
Strike. ↩
-
Of whom I tell you. ↩
-
The secretary or registrar who was charged with publishing the acts, decrees and orders of the prefect. ↩
-
Seized. ↩
-
Led. ↩
-
Doctrine, teaching. ↩
-
Began. ↩
-
To wrest, root out. ↩
-
Believe. ↩
-
In a company. ↩
-
Mien. ↩
-
Beloved. ↩
-
See 2 Tim. 4:7, 8; “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith,” etc. ↩
-
Relate. ↩
-
Steadfast. ↩
-
On the spot. ↩
-
Caused him to be cruelly or fatally beaten; the force of the “to” is intensive. ↩
-
Quit. ↩
-
Burn incense to. ↩
-
Teaching. ↩
-
Opinion. ↩
-
Believe. ↩
-
Die. ↩
-
First of all. ↩
-
Ignorantly. ↩
-
Asked. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
Punishment. ↩
-
Deny. ↩
-
Renounce. ↩
-
Nobility. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Judgment. ↩
-
True. ↩
-
Confounded in thy jolly. ↩
-
Dissembles. ↩
-
Grows mad, furious. ↩
-
Thoughts, consideration. ↩
-
Unhappy. ↩
-
Mortally. ↩
-
Truth. ↩
-
Falsehood. ↩
-
Give life to. ↩
-
Cease, have done with. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Foolish. ↩
-
Folly. ↩
-
Every sort of way. ↩
-
Ignorant. ↩
-
Very, selfsame. ↩
-
Advise. ↩
-
Examine, test. ↩
-
Everywhere; or, above all things. ↩
-
Shut, confine. ↩
-
Kindled, applied. ↩
-
Leave. ↩
-
Message, order. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Executioner. ↩
-
Cause such torture, exercise such severity of punishment. ↩
-
Mangled, gashed. ↩
-
Received, caught up. ↩
-
Goods, moveables. ↩
-
Commended. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Cause to be established or made. ↩
-
Honourably, decorously. ↩
-
Is called. ↩
-
“The introduction,” says Tyrwhitt, “of the ‘Canon’s Yeoman’ to tell a tale at a time when so many of the original characters remain to be called upon, appears a little extraordinary. It should seem that some sudden resentment had determined Chaucer to interrupt the regular course of his work, in order to insert a satire against the alchemists. That their pretended science was much cultivated about this time, and produced its usual evils, may fairly be inferred from the Act, which was passed soon after, 5 H. IV c. IV, to make it felony ‘to multiply gold or silver, or to use the art of multiplication.’ ” Tyrwhitt finds in the prologue some colour for the hypothesis that this “Tale” was intended by Chaucer to begin the return journey from Canterbury; but against this must be set the fact that the Yeoman himself expressly speaks of the distance to Canterbury yet to be ridden. ↩
-
From some place which the loss of the Second Nun’s prologue does not enable us to identify. ↩
-
Nag. ↩
-
Dapple-gray. ↩
-
Spurred. ↩
-
Scarcely. ↩
-
The breastplate of a horse’s harness; French, poitrail. ↩
-
Spotted. ↩
-
A double valise; a wallet hanging across the crupper on either side of the horse. ↩
-
Considered. ↩
-
Cord. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Burdock-leaf. ↩
-
Still. ↩
-
Wallflower. ↩
-
Fortune. ↩
-
Knows. ↩
-
Not less than. ↩
-
If. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Learn. ↩
-
Advantage. ↩
-
Surpassing, extraordinary. ↩
-
A scholar, or a man in holy orders. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
Knows. ↩
-
Learn, know. ↩
-
Honour, reputation. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
Upper garment; breeches. ↩
-
Prosper. ↩
-
Soiled, slovenly. ↩
-
Buy. ↩
-
Thrive. ↩
-
Own (to him). ↩
-
Stand the test or proof. ↩
-
Ignorant, stupid. ↩
-
Foolish. ↩
-
No matter. ↩
-
Skill, knowledge. ↩
-
Wise. ↩
-
Corners. ↩
-
Nature. ↩
-
Truth. ↩
-
By Saint Peter! ↩
-
An exclamation of dislike and ill-will; “confound it!” ↩
-
Labour. ↩
-
Transmute metals, in the attempt to multiply gold and silver by alchemy. ↩
-
Toil. ↩
-
Pore, peer anxiously. ↩
-
Cause. ↩
-
Fancy. ↩
-
Search, strive. ↩
-
Surely. “Conscius ipse sibi de se putat omnia dici”—De Moribus, l. I dist. 17. ↩
-
Saying. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Pay dear for it. ↩
-
Little. ↩
-
Some diversion. ↩
-
Destroy. ↩
-
Promise. ↩
-
A serious matter. ↩
-
Trouble, injury. ↩
-
The “Tale of the Canon’s Yeoman,” like those of the “Wife of Bath” and the “Pardoner,” is made up of two parts; a long general introduction, and the story proper. In the case of the “Wife of Bath,” the interruptions of other pilgrims, and the autobiographical nature of the discourse, recommend the separation of the prologue from the “Tale” proper; but in the other cases the introductory or merely connecting matter ceases wholly where the opening of “The Tale” has been marked in the text. ↩
-
Nearer. ↩
-
By my labour. ↩
-
My sight is grown dim; perhaps the phrase has also the metaphorical sense of being deceived or befooled. ↩
-
Slippery, deceptive. ↩
-
Property. ↩
-
Repay. ↩
-
Betaketh; designeth to occupy him in that art. ↩
-
His prosperity at an end. ↩
-
Jeopardy, hazard. In Froissart’s French, a jeu partie is used to signify a game or contest in which the chances were exactly equal for both sides. ↩
-
Wicked folk. ↩
-
Trouble. ↩
-
No matter. ↩
-
Fantastic, wicked. ↩
-
Learned and strange. ↩
-
Scales; Latin, squamae. ↩
-
Cementing, sealing up. ↩
-
Slow. ↩
-
Quick. ↩
-
White lead. ↩
-
A certain number or proportion. ↩
-
Unlearned. ↩
-
Vessels for distillation “per descensum;” they were placed under the fire, and the spirit to be extracted was thrown downwards. ↩
-
Crucibles; French, creuset. ↩
-
Retorts; distilling-vessels; so called from their likeness in shape to a gourd—Latin, cucurbita. ↩
-
Stills, limbecs. ↩
-
At the price of, in exchange for, a leek. ↩
-
Agrimony. ↩
-
Moonwort. ↩
-
White of egg, glair; French, glaire; German, ey, an egg. ↩
-
The meaning of this phrase is obscure; but if we take the reading “cered poketts,” from the Harleian manuscript, we are led to the supposition that it signifies receptacles—bags or pokes—prepared with wax for some process. Latin, cera, wax. ↩
-
Potter’s clay, used for luting or closing vessels in the laboratories of the alchemists; Latin, argilla; French, argile. ↩
-
Flowers of antimony. ↩
-
Incorporating. ↩
-
Turning to a citrine colour, or yellow, by chemical action; that was the colour which proved the philosopher’s stone. ↩
-
Not, as in its modern meaning, the masses of metal shaped by pouring into moulds; but the moulds themslves into which the fused metal was poured. Compare Dutch, ingieten, part, inghehoten, to infuse; German, eingiessen, part, eingegossen, to pour in. ↩
-
Name. ↩
-
Name; from Anglo-Saxon, threapian. ↩
-
Call. ↩
-
Publish, display. ↩
-
Easy to learn. ↩
-
Fantastic foolish. ↩
-
Ignorant. ↩
-
Know he letters—be he learned. ↩
-
Come to the same result in the pursuit of the art of making gold. ↩
-
Metal fillings; French, limaille. ↩
-
Anywhere. ↩
-
Though he look never so grim or fierce. ↩
-
Secure. ↩
-
Confession. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Time. ↩
-
Repentant. ↩
-
Coarse cloak; Anglo-Saxon, bratt. The word is still used in Lincolnshire, and some parts of the north, to signify a coarse kind of apron. ↩
-
Cease. ↩
-
Shabbily. ↩
-
Whisper. ↩
-
Placed. ↩
-
Adjusts the proportions. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Gone, lost. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Impious wretch. ↩
-
Dissatisfied. ↩
-
In consequence of; the modern vulgar phrase “all along of,” or “all along on,” best conveys the force of the words in the text. ↩
-
Ignorant and foolish. ↩
-
Mixed in due proportions. ↩
-
Stop. ↩
-
So thé ich—so may I thrive. ↩
-
Again; another time. ↩
-
Sure. ↩
-
Cracked; from French, écraser, to crack or crush. ↩
-
Confounded. ↩
-
Quickly. ↩
-
Rubbish. ↩
-
Time. ↩
-
Has gone amiss at present. ↩
-
Risk our property. ↩
-
Drowned, sunk. ↩
-
Endeavour. ↩
-
To bring our enterprise into a better condition—to a better issue. ↩
-
Blame. ↩
-
Assert, affirm noisily. ↩
-
Proof, test. ↩
-
Alexandria. ↩
-
Cunning tricks. ↩
-
Is not. ↩
-
Contract an excessive or foolish fondness for him. ↩
-
Except. ↩
-
Deceitful conduct. ↩
-
There is a black sheep in every flock. ↩
-
Individual, single. ↩
-
Counsel. ↩
-
Employed in singing annuals or anniversary masses for the dead, without any cure of souls; the office was such as, in the prologue to the Tales, Chaucer praises the Parson for not seeking: Nor “ran unto London, unto Saint Poul’s, to seeke him a chantery for souls.” See here. ↩
-
No matter. ↩
-
Neck. ↩
-
Quickly. ↩
-
Times. ↩
-
Pleased. ↩
-
I am not at all willing. ↩
-
A new thing to happen. ↩
-
Sure. ↩
-
Displeased, dissatisfied. ↩
-
Shown. ↩
-
Learn. ↩
-
With your own eye. ↩
-
Offer. ↩
-
Those wise folk of old. ↩
-
Press their way into his heart. ↩
-
Simple. ↩
-
Blinded; beguiled. ↩
-
Contrived. ↩
-
Stratagems, snares. ↩
-
Hasten. ↩
-
Stupidity. ↩
-
Knowledge. ↩
-
Imagine. ↩
-
Knows. ↩
-
Grieveth. ↩
-
At least. ↩
-
Villainy. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
Fetched. ↩
-
Crucible. ↩
-
A chemical phrase, signifying the dissolution of quicksilver in acid. ↩
-
Knowledge. ↩
-
Send out of the way. ↩
-
Went. ↩
-
With which to deceive. ↩
-
Make haste. ↩
-
Lay in order. ↩
-
Done. ↩
-
Great thanks. ↩
-
Filings or dust of silver. ↩
-
Contrivance, stratagem. ↩
-
Before they separated. ↩
-
Cease; from Anglo-Saxon, blinnan, to desist. ↩
-
Grieveth. ↩
-
Revenge myself. ↩
-
Changeable, unsettled. ↩
-
Evil fortune attend him! ↩
-
Burn. ↩
-
Quickly. ↩
-
Evenly or exactly laid. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Turn out, succeed. ↩
-
Mistrust. ↩
-
Describe. ↩
-
Little piece; the adjective tiny is connected with the word. ↩
-
Prosper; achieve, end; French, achever. ↩
-
Breadth. ↩
-
Doubt. ↩
-
Countenance. ↩
-
Search. ↩
-
Little piece; the adjective tiny is connected with the word. ↩
-
That of all the saints. ↩
-
Curse. ↩
-
Unless, if. ↩
-
Trial, experiment. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Again. ↩
-
Stratagem. ↩
-
Heed. ↩
-
Particle. ↩
-
Apply. ↩
-
Before. ↩
-
Provided with that false contrivance. ↩
-
Went. ↩
-
Quickly. ↩
-
Better. ↩
-
Forthwith; again. ↩
-
Skillful. ↩
-
Swiftly. ↩
-
Haste. ↩
-
Took; from Anglo-Saxon, niman, to take. Compare German, nehmen, nahm. ↩
-
Swiftly. ↩
-
Before. ↩
-
Trick. ↩
-
Befooled him. ↩
-
Small piece of silver. ↩
-
Hind; slave, wretch. ↩
-
Unsuspecting. ↩
-
Left. ↩
-
Took. ↩
-
Before, erewhile. ↩
-
Of any value. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Quickly. ↩
-
Proof. ↩
-
Besotted, stupid. ↩
-
No matter. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
Were it not for. ↩
-
Fetched. ↩
-
Care. ↩
-
Rather. ↩
-
Mad. ↩
-
Good result of your experiments. ↩
-
Great thanks. ↩
-
Saw. ↩
-
Befooled. ↩
-
The false Canon. ↩
-
Scarcely is there any (gold). ↩
-
Blinds, deceives. ↩
-
Pleasure and exertion. ↩
-
Easily. ↩
-
Gain, profit. ↩
-
Pleasant. ↩
-
Sorrow; Anglo-Saxon, gram; German, gram. ↩
-
Burnt. ↩
-
Advise. ↩
-
Leave it—that is, the alchemist’s art. ↩
-
Perceives no danger. ↩
-
Traffic, commerce. ↩
-
Seize and plunder; acquire by hook or by crook. ↩
-
Burnt. ↩
-
Prosperity. ↩
-
Quickly. ↩
-
Arnaldus Villanovanus, or Arnold de Villeneuve, was a distinguished French chemist and physician of the fourteenth century; his Rosarium Philosophorum was a favourite textbook with the alchemists of the generations that succeeded. ↩
-
Except. ↩
-
Hermes Trismegistus, counsellor of Osiris, King of Egypt, was credited with the invention of writing and hieroglyphics, the drawing up of the laws of the Egyptians, and the origination of many sciences and arts. The Alexandrian school ascribed to him the mystic learning which it amplified; and the scholars of the Middle Ages regarded with enthusiasm and reverence the works attributed to him—notably a treatise on the philosopher’s stone. ↩
-
Drawn, derived. ↩
-
Saying. ↩
-
Study, explore. ↩
-
Except. ↩
-
Ignorant, foolish. ↩
-
Knowledge. ↩
-
Secreta Secretorum; a treatise, very popular in the Middle Ages, supposed to contain the sum of Aristotle’s instructions to Alexander. Lydgate translated about half of the work, when his labour was interrupted by his death about 1460; and from the same treatise had been taken most of the seventh book of Gower’s Confessio Amantis. ↩
-
Tyrwhitt says that this book was printed in the Theatrum Chemicum, under the title, Senioris Zadith fi. Hamuelis tabula chymica; and the story here told of Plato and his disciple was there related of Solomon, but with some variations. ↩
-
That. ↩
-
To explain the unknown by the more unknown. ↩
-
Then. ↩
-
Will not. ↩
-
Precious. ↩
-
Protect. ↩
-
Name. ↩
-
Counsel. ↩
-
Though he pursue the alchemist’s art all his days. ↩
-
An end. ↩
-
Remedy for his sorrow and trouble. ↩
-
Know. ↩
-
Mr. Wright supposes this to be the village of Harbledown, near Canterbury, which is situated on a hill, and near which there are many ups and downs in the road. Like Boughton, where the Canon and his Yeoman overtook the pilgrims, it stood on the skirts of the Kentish forest of Blean or Blee. ↩
-
A proverbial saying. Dun is a name for an ass, derived from his colour. ↩
-
Easily. ↩
-
The mention of the Cook here, with no hint that he had already told a story, confirms the indication given by the imperfect condition of his “Tale,” that Chaucer intended to suppress the “Tale” altogether, and make him tell a story in some other place. ↩
-
Make. ↩
-
Faith. ↩
-
In the day time. ↩
-
Laboured. ↩
-
Preferable. ↩
-
Are dim. ↩
-
Flattered. ↩
-
The quintain; called “fan” or “vane,” because it turned round like a weathercock. ↩
-
Referring to the classification of wine, according to its effects on a man, given in the old “Calendrier des Bergiers,” The man of choleric temperament has “wine of lion;” the sanguine, “wine of ape;” the phlegmatic, “wine of sheep;” the melancholic, “wine of sow.” There is a Rabbinical tradition that, when Noah was planting vines, Satan slaughtered beside them the four animals named; hence the effect of wine in making those who drink it display in turn the characteristics of all the four. ↩
-
Wroth. ↩
-
Cavalry expedition. ↩
-
Stupidly. ↩
-
A defluxion or rheum which stops the nose and obstructs the voice. ↩
-
Horse. ↩
-
Again. ↩
-
I take no account. ↩
-
Foolish. ↩
-
A phrase in hawking—to recall a hawk to the fist; the meaning here is, that the Cook may one day bring the Manciple to account, or pay him off, for the rebuke of his drunkenness. ↩
-
Take exception to, pick flaws in. ↩
-
Proof, test. ↩
-
Rather. ↩
-
Provoke. ↩
-
Jest. ↩
-
Trick. ↩
-
Blown into his horn; a metaphor for belching. ↩
-
Trouble, annoyance. ↩
-
“The fable of ‘The Crow,’ ” says Tyrwhitt, “which is the subject of the ‘Manciple’s Tale,’ 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.” ↩
-
Pleasant. ↩
-
Generosity. ↩
-
Part. ↩
-
Tricked, deceived. ↩
-
Observation, espionage. ↩
-
A contrarious or ill-disposed woman. ↩
-
Sheer folly. ↩
-
Lose. ↩
-
Succeed in constraining. ↩
-
All that thy heart prompts. ↩
-
Rather. ↩
-
See the parallel to this passage in the “Squire’s Tale,” and note 3192. ↩
-
Forsaketh. ↩
-
Nature. ↩
-
Drives out. ↩
-
Nature. ↩
-
She desires. ↩
-
Mate. ↩
-
With reference to. ↩
-
Gentle, mild. ↩
-
Ill luck to it. ↩
-
Is consonant to, accords with. ↩
-
Unlawful lover. ↩
-
Rough-spoken, downright. ↩
-
Because. ↩
-
Usurper. ↩
-
Wandering. ↩
-
Followers, people. ↩
-
Level. ↩
-
Well stored with texts or citations. ↩
-
Whit. ↩
-
Light or rash pleasure. ↩
-
Watching. ↩
-
Thou art befooled or betrayed. ↩
-
Value. ↩
-
Grave, trustworthy. ↩
-
To turn aside. ↩
-
Arrow; Anglo-Saxon, fla. ↩
-
Guitar. ↩
-
Created. ↩
-
Was not. ↩
-
Pleasantness. ↩
-
Steadfast. ↩
-
Certainly. ↩
-
Rash, hasty. ↩
-
So foully wrong. ↩
-
Distrust—want of trust; so wanhope, despair—want of hope. ↩
-
Rashness. ↩
-
Believe. ↩
-
Know. ↩
-
Consider. ↩
-
Surely. ↩
-
Take any action upon your anger. ↩
-
Slay. ↩
-
Once on a time. ↩
-
Lose. ↩
-
Revenged. ↩
-
Black. ↩
-
Before, in warning of. ↩
-
Sprang. ↩
-
To whom I commend him. ↩
-
Heed. ↩
-
Defend by crossing themselves. ↩
-
Because. ↩
-
Consider. ↩
-
Destroyed. ↩
-
Ruined. ↩
-
Except. ↩
-
Makest thy best effort. ↩
-
Learn. ↩
-
This is quoted in the French “Romance of the Rose,” from Cato De Moribus, l. I, dist. 3: “Virtutem primam esse puta compescere linguam.” ↩
-
Knowest. ↩
-
Hasty. ↩
-
Prating man. ↩
-
Beckon, make gestures. ↩
-
Feign to be. ↩
-
It please thee. ↩
-
Thou hast no need to fear. ↩
-
“Semel emissum volat irrevocabile verbum.”
—Horace, Epist. I, 18, 71. -
Slave. ↩
-
Which he now regrets. ↩
-
This caution is also from Cato De Moribus, l. I, dist. 12: “Rumoris fuge ne incipias novus auctor haberi.” ↩
-
Rising. ↩
-
In the middle of. ↩
-
Village’s. ↩
-
Govern. ↩
-
From each class or rank in the company. ↩
-
Vicar. ↩
-
Faith. ↩
-
Interrupt. ↩
-
Wallet. ↩
-
Forsake truth. ↩
-
Chaff, refuse. ↩
-
Relate stories. ↩
-
A contemptuous reference to the alliterative poetry which was at that time very popular, in preference even, it would seem, to rhyme, in the northern parts of the country, where the language was much more barbarous and unpolished than in the south. ↩
-
Mince matters, make false pretensions or promises. ↩
-
The word is used here to signify the shrine, or destination, to which pilgrimage is made. ↩
-
Opinion. ↩
-
Scholars. ↩
-
Meaning, sense. ↩
-
A thing worth doing, that ought to be done. ↩
-
Discourse. ↩
-
Fruitful; profitable. ↩
-
The “Parson’s Tale” is believed to be a translation, more or less free, from some treatise on penitence that was in favour about Chaucer’s time. Tyrwhitt says: “I cannot recommend it as a very entertaining or edifying performance at this day; but the reader will please to remember, in excuse both of Chaucer and of his editor, that, considering The Canterbury Tales as a great picture of life and manners, the piece would not have been complete if it had not included the religion of the time.” The Editor of the present volume has followed the same plan adopted with regard to “Chaucer’s Tale of Meliboeus,” and mainly for the same reasons. (See note 3947.) An outline of the Parson’s ponderous sermon—for such it is—has been drawn; while those passages have been given in full which more directly illustrate the social and the religious life of the time—such as the picture of hell, the vehement and rather coarse, but, in an antiquarian sense, most curious and valuable attack on the fashionable garb of the day, the catalogue of venial sins, the description of gluttony and its remedy, etc. The brief third or concluding part, which contains the application of the whole, and the “Retractation” or “Prayer” that closes the “Tale” and the entire magnum opus of Chaucer, have been given in full. ↩
-
Everlasting. ↩
-
Jeremiah 6:16. ↩
-
In comparison with. ↩
-
Just before, the Parson had cited the words of Job to God (Job 10:20–22), “Suffer, Lord, that I may a while bewail and weep, ere I go without returning to the dark land, covered with the darkness of death; to the land of misease and of darkness, where as is the shadow of death; where as is no order nor ordinance, but grisly dread that ever shall last.” ↩
-
Is devoid. ↩
-
Everlasting. ↩
-
Prevent, interrupt. ↩
-
Servant. ↩
-
Trampled under foot. ↩
-
Abased. ↩
-
Trouble, torment. ↩
-
Want. ↩
-
United. ↩
-
Senses. ↩
-
Tasting. ↩
-
Wailing. ↩
-
Gnashing, grinding. ↩
-
Tasting. ↩
-
Expect. ↩
-
Saints. ↩
-
Killed, deadened. ↩
-
Leaveth. ↩
-
Promised. ↩
-
Disguising. ↩
-
Causes to sink. ↩
-
Hold, bilge. ↩
-
In any case. ↩
-
Sunk. ↩
-
Make ready. ↩
-
Gluttony. ↩
-
Promiseth. ↩
-
Evening service of the Church. ↩
-
Profitable, necessary. ↩
-
Neglectfulness or indifference; from the Greek, ακηδεια. ↩
-
Moreover. ↩
-
Although. ↩
-
Expecteth. ↩
-
An image which was presented to the people to be kissed, at that part of the mass where the priest said, “Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.” The ceremony took the place, for greater convenience, of the “kiss of peace,” which clergy and people, at this passage, used to bestow upon each other. ↩
-
Like. ↩
-
Arbour; bush. ↩
-
Dearness. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Three ways of ornamenting clothes with lace, etc.; in barring it was laid on crossways, in ounding it was waved, in paling it was laid on lengthways. ↩
-
Like. ↩
-
Lining or edging with fur. ↩
-
Sitting, slashing. ↩
-
Help, remedy. ↩
-
Inclemency. ↩
-
Breeches. ↩
-
Dividing. ↩
-
Flayed. ↩
-
Decency. ↩
-
Gentle. ↩
-
Reasonable and appropriate style. ↩
-
Servant. ↩
-
Breastplates. ↩
-
Seemliness. ↩
-
Retinue of servants. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Violent and harmful. ↩
-
Arrogance. ↩
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Impiety. ↩
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Unless. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
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Worketh harm. ↩
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Especially. ↩
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Like. ↩
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Plate. ↩
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Easily. ↩
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Kinds. ↩
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Goodness. ↩
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Judgment. ↩
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Craving. ↩
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Take delight in. ↩
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Accustomed, addicted. ↩
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Bondage. ↩
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Lair, lurking-place. ↩
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Laboured. ↩
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Although. ↩
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Immoderately. ↩
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Nicety. ↩
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Application, pains. ↩
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Prepare. ↩
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Unless. ↩
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Indecency, impropriety. ↩
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Sets no value on. ↩
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Moderation. ↩
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Portion. ↩
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Divide. ↩
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Not at all. ↩
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A priest who enjoined penance in extraordinary cases. ↩
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Unless thou be pleased. ↩
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Division. ↩
-
True confession. ↩
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Sickness. ↩
-
Accuse. ↩
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Unless. ↩
-
Falsehoods. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
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Fear. ↩
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Jest. ↩
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Easily. ↩
-
To receive the holy sacrament; from Anglo-Saxon, husel; Latin, hostia, or hostiola, the host. ↩
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Renew themselves. ↩
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True. ↩
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Especially. ↩
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Notice. ↩
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Lodging. ↩
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Promptly. ↩
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Watchings. ↩
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Worthy. ↩
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In order that. ↩
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The more easily conned or learned. ↩
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Retain. ↩
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Commit. ↩
-
Lesseneth. ↩
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Watching. ↩
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Liberality. ↩
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Murmur. ↩
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Out of time. ↩
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Because. ↩
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Haircloth. ↩
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Coarse hempen cloth. ↩
-
It was a frequent penance among the chivalric orders to wear mail shirts next the skin. ↩
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With compassion. ↩
-
Gentleness. ↩
-
Patience. ↩
-
Better pleased. ↩
-
Rods. ↩
-
Chattels. ↩
-
In comparison with. ↩
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Especially. ↩
-
Openly. ↩
-
Acquire. ↩
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Presumption; from old French, surcuider, to think arrogantly, be full of conceit. ↩
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Security. ↩
-
Cease. ↩
-
With their goodwill. ↩
-
Despair. ↩
-
Of two kinds. ↩
-
Unless. ↩
-
Impair, injure. ↩
-
Kingdom. ↩
-
The genuineness and real significance of this “Prayer of Chaucer,” usually called his “Retractation,” have been warmly disputed. On the one hand, it has been declared that the monks forged the retractation, and procured its insertion among the works of the man who had done so much to expose their abuses and ignorance, and to weaken their hold on popular credulity: on the other hand, Chaucer himself at the close of his life, is said to have greatly lamented the ribaldry and the attacks on the clergy which marked especially The Canterbury Tales, and to have drawn up a formal retractation of which the “Prayer” is either a copy or an abridgment. The beginning and end of the “Prayer,” as Tyrwhitt points out, are in tone and terms quite appropriate in the mouth of the Parson, while they carry on the subject of which he has been treating; and, despite the fact that Mr. Wright holds the contrary opinion, Tyrwhitt seems to be justified in setting down the “Retractation” as interpolated into the close of the “Parson’s Tale.” Of the circumstances under which the interpolation was made, or the causes by which it was dictated, little or nothing can now be confidently affirmed; but the agreement of the manuscripts and the early editions in giving it, render it impossible to discard it peremptorily as a declaration of prudish or of interested regret, with which Chaucer himself had nothing whatever to do. ↩
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Impute. ↩
-
Unskillfulness. ↩
-
Especially. ↩
-
Are sinfull, tend towards sin. ↩
-
True. ↩