Part ii. sect. 5, l. 1.
[52] Mr. Bradshaw gave me the hint; I afterwards found this remark by
Selden, in his Preface to Drayton's Polyolbion: 'his [Chaucer's]
Treatise of the Astrolabe, which I dare swear was chiefly learned out
of Messahalah.'
[53] Macha-allah or Messahala, an Arabian astronomer, by religion a Jew,
flourished towards the end of the eighth century. Latin translations
of four of his works (_not_ including the Treatise on the Astrolabe)
have been printed, and were published at Nuremberg in 1549. A list of
his works is given in Casiri (Bibl. Arab.-hisp. tom. 1er. pag. 434),
and in the Biographie Universelle.
[54] This splendid MS., of the _thirteenth_ century, is dated 1276, and
illustrated with beautifully executed coloured diagrams. It is a
storehouse of information about the Astrolabe, and I have often
consulted it.
[55] It is printed in full in my edition of Chaucer's Astrolabe, published
for the Early Eng. Text Society in 1872, at pp. 88-104.
[56] In my edition of the 'Astrolabe' for the Early Eng. Text Society
(1872), I have inserted a large number of examples of strange
blunders in the printed editions.
[57] There are two astrolabes in Merton College, besides a plate
exhibiting astronomical tables. These are all described in a paper
entitled 'Remarks on an Astrolabe belonging to F. A. Hyett, Esq.,'
written by my friend Robert Taylor, M.A., and printed in the
Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archæological
Society, vol. xii. Mr. Taylor further describes two Astrolabes in the
British Museum.
[58] This word has several senses in Chaucer. It means (1) the discs of an
astrolabe; (2) a set of tablets; (3) astronomical tables; and (4) the
game of 'tables.'
[59] '_Pertuis_: m. A hole. _Pertuis de l'Araigne_, the centre of an
Astrolabe; the hole wherein all the tables thereof are, by a pin or
naile, joined together.'--Cotgrave's French Dictionary.
[60] As far as I can ascertain.
[61] Here insert--[they mene]--which CP omit.
[62] The words from _euene_ to _climat_ are added at the bottom of the
page in the MS.
[63] Really _ten_; for _rout-e_ is dissyllabic.
[64] _Misprinted_ wo; cf. _two_, l. 2093.
[65] Imitated from Parl. of Foules, 693.
[66] Cf. Book Duch. 1332.
[67] From Parl. of Foules, 696.
[68] There _are_ such accounts; but they are probably copied from Chaucer,
who seems to have invented this transformation himself. See Notes and
Queries, 7 Ser. vi. 186, 309, 372.
[69] Not twentieth; for Legend IV contains two heroines.
[70] The MS. has _shete_, an obvious error for _swete_, the alliteration
being on _sw_. But the editors print _shene_.
[71] Not 'formator,' as in Bell's note; a contraction for 'um' is added.
[72] This is doubtless quoted from some gloss upon Ptolemy, not from the
work itself. The reference is right, for the 'motus celi' are
discussed in the Almagest, lib. i. c. 8.
[73] This star ([alpha] Arietis) was on the supposed horn of the Ram, and
hence its name; since _El-nâtih_ signifies 'the butter,' and
'El-nath' is 'butting' or 'pushing.' See Ideler, Die Bedeutung der
Sternnamen, p. 135.
[74] Well expressed by Dante, Parad, xxx. 38--
'Noi semo usciti fuore
Del maggior _corpo_ al ciel ch'é pura luce.'
Dante, like Chaucer, makes the eighth sphere that of fixed stars, and
the ninth the _primum mobile_ or swiftest heaven (_ciel
velocissimo_); Parad, xxvii. 99.
[75] Here follows a table, shewing that, in _Aries_, the value of _Saturn_
is 5, of _Jupiter_ 5, &c.; with the values of the planets in all the
other signs. The value 5, of Saturn, is obtained by adding a
_triplicite_ (value 3) to a _terme_ (value 2), these being the
'witnesses' of Saturne in Aries; and so on throughout.
[76] So on p. 12 of another tract (D) in the same MS., we find--
'_Aries calidu_m _& sucu_m; _bonu_m.
Nill capiti noceas, Aries cum lu_n_a refulget,
De vena minuas & balnea tuti_us_ intres,
Non tangas Aures, nec barbam radere debes.'
Each of the signs is described in similar triplets, from the grammar
of which I conclude that _Aries_ is here put for _in Ariete_, in the
first hexameter.
[77] 1385 is also the date of the latest allusion in the Canterbury Tales;
see note to B 3589.
[78] King John of France travelled from Canterbury to Dover (16 miles) on
Sunday, July 5, 1360; but he heard mass in the cathedral before
starting.--Temporary Pref. to the Six-text Edition, p. 131.
[79] Tyrwhitt says 'at least one Tale'; but see Prol. 792. The fact is
that Chaucer himself tacitly modified his plan afterwards, and
altered the _two_ tales to _one_; see the Parson's Prologue, I 16-29.
[80] Warton wrongly adds, or the Host. But the Host was the umpire, not a
tale-teller himself.
[81] The term 'link,' and such terms as 'head-link,' 'end-link,' and the
like, are to be found in the Six-text edition published by the
Chaucer Society, whence I have copied them.
[82] In 1749, the coach from Edinburgh to Glasgow, forty-four miles, took
two days for the journey. Twenty miles a day was fast. We may allow
the pilgrims about fifteen miles a day. See Chambers' Book of Days,
ii. 228. Once more, it is absurd to suppose Chaucer capable of
proposing to crowd about sixty tales or so into a single day! A day
of ten hours would, with interruptions, leave each speaker less than
ten minutes apiece. See also Temporary Pref. to the Six-text, p. 119,
shewing that Queen Isabella, in 1358, arrived at Canterbury from
London in three or four days; stopping at Dartford, Rochester, and
Ospringe. From the same, p. 129, we find that King John of France
went from London to Eltham, June 30, 1360 (Tuesday); to Dartford
(Wednesday); to Rochester (Thursday); to Ospringe (Friday); and to
Canterbury (Saturday). Cf. Notes and Queries, 8th S. i. 474, 522.
[83] By 'B 5' I mean Group B, l. 5, as numbered in the Chaucer Society's
Six-text edition; the arrangement of which I have adopted throughout.
[84] See note to l. 8 of the Prologue.
[85] Except as regards convenience of reference. It was Dr. Furnivall who
placed C more forward; nothing is gained by it, and it complicates
references. I heartily wish this had never been done.
[86] Tyrwhitt suggests the same thing, in a note to his Introductory
Discourse.
[87] In the Proem, the Nun calls herself an 'unworthy _son_ of Eve'; G 62.
[88] See the extracts from Chaucer's Book of the Duchess as compared with
some from Machault's Remède de Fortune in Furnivall's Trial
Forewords, p. 47, where he quotes from Étude sur G. Chaucer, by M.
Sandras, p. 290. Or consult the Notes, in vol. i., to the Book of the
Duchesse, ll. 155, 250, 634, 779, 805, 919, 950, 1037.
[89] Observe particularly this rime of _complain_ with _plein_. This shews
whence Chaucer derived such rimes as _seke_, _seke_; Prol. 17, 18.
There is a poem of 92 lines called Le Dit de la Harpe, printed in
Bartsch's Crestomathie Française, p. 408, in which more than half the
rimes are of this character.
[90] It is none too clear who are meant by 'the parson and his companion.'
Perhaps it means the Parson and the Ploughman (his brother).
[91] Observe this substitution of _one_ Tale for _two_, tacitly accepted
by Chaucer's readers as better suiting the circumstances.
[92] This statement, that the Frere was 'a grey frere,' is of some
interest.
[93] See Morley's English Writers, vi. 115-8, where an analysis of the
Tale is given.
[94] I.e. thorpe, village; I quote from the edition of 1561. Broughton is
an error for Boughton.
[95] Ed. 'as ye'; which gives no sense.
[96] For a good account of the Tabard Inn and a discussion of the
pilgrims, see Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, by J. Saunders, ed. 1889.
[97] Compare the articles by Koch and Kölbing, in Englische Studien, i.
249, ii. 528, and in Essays on Chaucer, p. 357.
[98] 'In describing the commencement of this amour, which is to be the
subject of the remainder of the poem, Chaucer has entirely departed
from his author in three principal circumstances, and, I think, in
each with very good reason, (1) By supposing Emilia to be seen first
by Palamon, he gives him an advantage over his rival which makes the
catastrophe more consonant to poetical justice. (2) The picture which
Boccaccio has exhibited of two young princes violently enamoured of
the same object, without jealousy or rivalship, if not absolutely
unnatural, is certainly very insipid and unpoetical. (3) As no
consequence is to follow from their being seen by Emilia at this
time, it is better, I think, to suppose, as Chaucer has done, that
they are not seen by her.'--Tyrwhitt.
[99] The same story has been imitated in the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, and
in the Berceau of Lafontaine (Morley).
[100] I.e. Abington, seven miles to the S.E. of Cambridge, and nearly as
far from Trumpington. In one way, it suits better; Trumpington is too
near Cambridge for the clerks to have been benighted there.
[101] For an analysis of the Tale, see Morley, Eng. Writers, v. 321.
[102] _Se-ïnt_ seems to have been occasionally dissyllabic, as in Chaucer's
Prologue, A 697.
[103] This may be true of some of the traditions embodied in the story; but
as we have it, the date is much later.
[104] Or of the fourteenth century; they did not much vary.
[105] Reprinted in Chalmers' English Poets, i. 607 (1810).
[106] The objection is made that _all_ people 'speak in prose'; but I think
Chaucer refers to something more rhetorical than ordinary
conversation.
[107] All adapted from his early work, Of the Wretched Engendering of
Mankinde; see p. 407. The four stanzas are: B 421-7, 771-7, 925-31,
and 1135-41.
[108] Chaucer is, in fact, alluding to Trivet.
[109] In Anglia, xiv. 77-122, 147-185.
[110] I sometimes copy Mr. Brock's very words.
[111] The Dominican friars were also called _Friars Preachers_.
[112] Reprinted for the Early Eng. Text Soc., ed. S. J. Herrtage, 1879; see
pp. 311, 493 of this edition.
[113] Warton gives the reference, viz. to his Speculum Historiale, lib.
vii. c. 90, fol. 86 a.
[114] I.e. it is the sole authority for placing both the Shipman's Prologue
and his Tale precisely here. At the same time, at least seventeen
other MSS. make the Shipman's Prologue follow the Man of Law's Tale;
only they turn it into a Prologue for the Sompnour or Squire.
[115] The Monk's cell is mentioned in the Prologue, l. 172; Chaucer's was
his 'celle fantastyk'; Kn. Ta. 518 (A 1376).
[116] I put (_e_) not (_b_), in order to show the _chronological_ order,
which is that of the letters, _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_, _e_, _f_.
[117] The group (_f_) has nothing to do with (_e_); as will appear.
[118] I say 'recollections' advisedly; see note to B 3293. The mistake of
confusing 'Busirus' with Diomedes, king of Thrace, suggests that
Chaucer had not as yet written out his translation of Boethius, but
had read it hastily. In other words, part of the Monkes Tale must be
earlier than 1380.
[119] Printed 'Chauncer' in the old edition which I here follow.
[120] Ed. 1532, alther; Edd. 1550, 1561, _all ther_; Morris corrects to _a
lither_.
[121] Compare C 1.
[122] C 164.
[123] C 165-170; 178-189.
[124] C 154.
[125] C 142.
[126] C. 192-9.
[127] C 203-206.
[128] C 254-276.
[129] A remarkable coincidence with the language of St. Paul in 1 Tim. vi.
10.
[130] But this passage still more resembles Jerome against Jovinian; see
note to the line.
[131] Cf. Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, ii. 292.
[132] I.e. the first edition of Gower's poem certainly preceded the Wife's
Tale, though the second edition did not appear till 1393.
[133] Lat. 'nepos'; but later on, Claudius is called his _eme_, i.e. uncle.
[134] To which it is not unusual to object, by insisting that it was not
Chaucer himself who met Petrarch, but the Clerk who tells the tale. I
doubt if this amounts to more than a quibble. There is nothing out of
place in Chaucer's reference to an incident in his own life, inasmuch
as he was a clerk himself, in the sense of being a student.
Otherwise, we have to explain how the poor clerk raised the money to
pay for this long journey; how it came to pass that _he_ met
Petrarch, and _when_; and how he acquired a copy of Petrarch's tale.
[135] See E 27, 40.
[136] See E 1147--'Petrark _wryteth_.' And yet Warton could imagine that
Chaucer did not use a copy of Petrarch's version, but only wrote from
recollection of what he had heard! If we enquire, how did Chaucer
obtain this version, no answer is so likely as the supposition that
Petrarch gave it him at parting. It is difficult to see how he could
have got it otherwise.
[137] The words 'He is _now_ deed,' in E 29, suggest that Petrarch was
still living when Chaucer first wrote the Tale.
'There was also Grisildis innocence,
And al hir mekenes and hir pacience.'
Lydgate, Temple of Glas, ed. Schick, l. 75.
[139] It occurs also in the black-letter editions, and in MSS. Harl. 1758
and 7333, Barlow 20, and Royal 18 C. ii; as well as in E., Hn., Cm.,
and Dd. Several MSS. follow it up by various scraps, taken from E.
2419-40 and F 1-8, with the false substitution of _Sire Frankeleyn_
for _Squier_ in F 1, which makes the line too long. See Part I of the
Six-text edition, pp. xvii*-xx*.
[140] Chaucer und Albertanus Brixiensis; in Archiv für das Studium der
neueren Sprachen; vol. 86, p. 29.
[141] To which are appended fables by Avian (leaf 106); by Alfonce (leaf
120, back); and by Poge the Florentyn (leaf 134).
[142] The 'reasons' are not recondite; for fifteen MSS., at the least, have
this arrangement.
[143] Tyrwhitt is quite right; he is alluding to the true Shipman's
Prologue; B 1163-90.
[144] Only a few hours after writing this sentence, I found that Mr.
Keightley, in his Tales and Popular Fictions, published in 1834, at
p. 76, distinctly derives Chaucer's Tale from the travels of Marco
Polo. I let the sentence stand, however, as an example of undesigned
coincidence.
[145] So in Mr. Hazlitt's edition; Warton originally wrote--'to believe
this story to be one of the many fables which the Arabians imported
into Europe.'
[146] 'All things can be known by Perspective, because all operations of
things take place according to the multiplication of forms and
forces, by means of this world's agents, upon yielding
materials.'--Opus Minus (see Warton).
[147] 'That sword, wrought with such art, that it cuts through enchantment
and every charm.' I correct the errors in these quotations.
[148] 'Enchantment avails not, where it inflicts a cut.'
[149] 'O splendid falsehood, when is truth so beautiful that one can prefer
her to thee?' In Warton's book, the Italian quotations abound in
misprints, not all of which are removed in Hazlitt's edition. I
cannot construe '_al_ vero,' as there printed.
[150] I would ask the reader to observe that the seven best MSS. all have
the spelling _Cambynskan_ or _Kambynskan_. The form _Cambuscan_ (in
Milton, Il Pens. 110) is found in the old black-letter editions. It
is strange that Milton should accent the wrong syllable. _Cambynskan_
arose from reading _Camiuscan_ as _Caminskan_.
[151] I find that Mr. Keightley has already suggested this.
[152] Evidently Shangtu, Coleridge's Xanadu. See his well-known lines--'In
Xanadu did Kubla Khan,' &c.
[153] This is Chaucer's 'Sarra'; see note to F 9.
[154] Mr. Keightley shews, in his Tales and Popular Fictions, p. 75, that
Cervantes has confused two stories, (1) that of a prince carrying off
a princess on a wooden horse; and (2) that of Peter of Provence
running away with the fair Magalona.
[155] See Arber's reprint, p. 85, where 'the hors of tree' [i.e. wood],
ridden by 'Cleomedes the kynges sone,' is expressly mentioned, and is
said to be 'torned' by 'a pynne that stode on his brest.'
[156] This magic ring is likewise referred to in chap. 32 of Caxton's
Reynard the Fox. It had 'thre hebrews names therin,' and it contained
'a stone of thre maner colours.' The same chapter mentions the magic
mirror.
[157] A friend of Milton's father; see Masson, Life of Milton, i. 42.
[158] Printed at Brussels, 1865; ed. A. van Hasselt.
[159] I take the liberty of abridging the story by omitting several
details.
[160] It had previously appeared in the fifth book of his Philocopo, a
juvenile work.
[161] But Dr. Köppel argues that the date must be several years later. See
his article in Anglia, xiv. 227; and observe Chaucer's use of Dante,
Par. xxxiii. 1-21, in ll. 36-56, which may, however, be due to the
insertion of ll. 36-56 at a later time. His argument that the Lyf of
Seint Cecyle was written _after_ Troilus, because it contains neither
_forthy_ nor _forwhy_, seems to me entirely valueless. The whole Tale
only contains 553 lines, whereas we find in Troilus 777 consecutive
lines in which neither word occurs, viz. in V. 351-1127.
[162] In l. 32, we have 'Thou comfort of us wrecches,' and in l. 58, 'Me
flemed wrecche.' I suspect that these lines were, in the original
draught, not far apart. l. 57 would follow l. 35 very suitably.
[163] Compare the section in the Acta Sanctorum, April 14, p. 209, headed:
'Nova corporum inventio sub Clemente VIII, A.D. MDXCIX.'
[164] See my note to l. 134 of the Tale.
[165] Tyrwhitt further explains that a poem in Ashmole's volume, called
Hermes Bird, and by him attributed to Raymund Lully, is really a poem
of Lydgate's, printed by Caxton with the title The Chorle and the
Bird.
[166] It is a totally different work from the Latin collection of
alchemical works, also called Theatrum Chemicum, so often cited in my
notes.
[167] At p. 470, Ashmole gives a brief account of Chaucer, made up from
Speght, Bale, Pits, and others, of no particular value. At p. 226, he
gives an engraving of the marble monument erected to Chaucer's memory
in Westminster Abbey, by Nicholas Brigham, A.D. 1556.
[168] This is somewhat amusing. Charnock describes his numerous
misadventures, and it is not clear that he preserved his faith in
alchemy unshaken.
[169] Thomson's Hist. Chemistry, i. 25.
[170] '_Sir To._ What shall we do else? Were we not born under Taurus? _Sir
And._ Taurus! that's sides and heart. _Sir To._ No, sir; it's legs
and thighs.' Both are wrong, of course, as Shakespeare knew. Chaucer
says--'Aries hath thin heved [head], and Taurus _thy nekke and thy
throte_;' Astrolabe, pt. i. sec. 21. l. 52.
[171] See Browning's drama entitled 'Paracelsus.'
[172] It is useless to try and discover an etymology for this word. It was
invented wittingly. The most that can be said was that Van Helmont
may have been thinking of the Dutch _geest_, a spirit; E. _ghost_.
[173] This seems to us a strange selection; red, green, and violet would
have been better. But this scale of colours is due to Aristotle, De
Sensu, ii.; cf. Bartholomeus, De Proprietatibus Rerum, bk. xix. c. 7.
[174] The Indian god Siva, was actually worshipped _under the form of
quicksilver_. Professor Cowell refers me to Marco Polo, ed. Yule, ii.
300, and to his own edition of Colebrooke's Essays, i. 433; also to
the semi-mythic life of Sankara Áchárya, the great reformer of the
eighth century.
[175] This explains why the alchemists, in seeking gold, sometimes supposed
that they had obtained silver.
[176] Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, ed. L. Herrig; vol. 86,
p. 44.
[177] MS. Douce 162 has a copy of the treatise in Provençal.
[178] Urry, the worst of editors, originated it.
[179] Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, ed. L. Herrig, vol. 87,
p. 33.