another behind, to give the rider greater security in his seat;' Murray's Eng. Dict. s.v. Arson. Violent collision against the front saddle-bow produced very serious results. Cf. the Teseide, ix. 8—' E 'l forte arcione gli premette il petto.' 1838. Then was he cut out of his armour.' to spare the patient trouble. 1840. in memorie, conscious. 1853. As a remedy for other wounds,' &c. I.e. the laces were cut, 1854, 1855. charmes . . . save. 'It may be observed that the salves, charms, and pharmacies of herbs were the principal remedies of the physician in the age of Chaucer. Save (salvia, the herb sage) was considered one of the most universally efficiently mediæval remedies.'— Wright. Hence the proverb of the school of Salerno, 'Cur moriatur homo, dum salvia crescit in horto?' 1864. nis nat but is only. aventure, accident. 1867. O persone, one person. 1875. Gree, preeminence, superiority; lit. rank, or a step; answering to Lat. gradus (not gratus). The phrases to win the gree, i. e. to get the first place, and to bear the gree, i. e. to keep the first place, are still in common use in Scotland. See note to the Allit. Destruction of Troy, ed. Panton and Donaldson, l. 1353, and Jamieson's Dictionary. 1878. dayes thre. Wright says the period of three days was the usual duration of a feast among our early forefathers. As far back as the seventh century, when Wilfred consecrated his church at Ripon, he held 'magnum convivium trium dierum et noctium reges cum omni populo laetificantes.'-Eddius, Vit. S. Wilf. c. 17. 1903. This al and som, i.e. this (is) the al and som, this is the short and long of it. With 11. 1903-50 compare the Teseide, x. 12, 37, 51, 54, 55, 64, 102-3, 60-3, 111–2. 1942. overcome. Tyrwhitt reads overnome, overtaken, the pp. of overnimen; but none of the seven best MSS. have this reading. 1952. The real reason why Chaucer could not here describe the passage of Arcite's soul to heaven is because he had already copied Boccaccio's description, and had used it with respect to the death of Troilus; see Troil. V (Stanzas 7, 8, 9 from the end). 1957. ther Mars, &c., where I hope that Mars will, &c.; may Mars, &c, 1964. swich sorwe, so great sorrow. 1969-1988. Cf. the Teseide, xi. 8, 7, 9-11, xii. 6. 1995-2104. Cf. the Teseide, xi. 13-16, 30, 31, 35, 38, 40, 37, 18, 26–7, 22-5, 21, 27-9, 39-67. 2005-2104. The whole of this description should be compared with the funeral rites at the burial of Archemorus, as described in Statius, Thebaid, bk. vi; which Chaucer probably consulted, as well as the imitation of the same in Boccaccio's Teseide. For example, the 'treelist' in 11. 2063-5 is not a little remarkable. The first hint of it is in Vergil, Æn. vi. 180; Statius took the hint, and amplified it. After which, it reappears in Boccaccio, Teseide, xi. 22; in Chaucer, Parl. of Foules, 176; in the present passage; in Tasso, Gier. Lib. iii. 75; and in Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. S. Again, we may just compare 11. 2093-2097 with the following lines in Lewis's translation of Statius: 'Around the pile an hundred horsemen ride, Moreover, Statius imitates the whole from Vergil, Æn. xi. 185–196. And Lydgate copies it all from Chaucer in his Sege of Thebes, part 3 (near the end). 2006. Funeral he myghte al accomplice (Elles.); Funeral he mighte hem all complise (Corp., Pet.). 2027. 'And surpassing others in weeping came Emily.' 2037. Cf. ' deux ars Turquois,' i. e. two Turkish bows; Rom. de la Rose, 913 2070. Amadrides; i. e. Hamadryades; see Ovid, Met. i. 192, 193, 690. 2085. men made the fyr (Heng.); maad was the fire (Corp. Pet.). 2095. loud (Elles.); heih (Harl.); bowe (Corp.). 2100. 'Chaucer seems to have confounded the wake-plays of his own time with the funeral games of the antients.'-Tyrwhitt. Cf. Troil. v. 304; and see 'Funeral Entertainments' in Brand's Popular Antiquities. 2104. in no disioynt, with no disadvantage. 2109-28. Cf. the Teseide, xii. 3–5. 2133-2135. that faire cheyne of love. This sentiment is taken from Boethius, lib. ii. met. 8: 'pat þe world with stable feith / varieth acordable chaungynges // þat the contraryos qualite of elementz holden amonge hem self aliaunce perdurable / þat phebus the sonne with his goldene chariet / bryngeth forth the rosene day / þat the mone hath commaundement ouer the nyhtes // whiche nyhtes hesperus the euesterre hat[h] browt // þat þe se gredy to flowen constreyneth with a certeyn ende hise floodes / so þat it is nat l[e]ueful to strechche hise brode termes or bowndes vpon the erthes // þat is to seyn to couere alle the erthe // Al this a-cordaunce of thinges is bownden with looue / þat gouerneth erthe and see and [he] hath also commaundementz to the heuenes and yif this looue slakede the brydelis / alle thinges pat now louen hem togederes / wolden maken a batayle contynuely and stryuen to fordoon the fasoun of this worlde / the which they now leden in acordable feith by fayre moeuynges // this looue halt to-gideres peoples ioygned with an hooly bond/ and knytteth sacrement of maryages of chaste looues // And love enditeth lawes to trewe felawes // O weleful weere mankynde / yif thilke loue þat gouerneth heuene gouerned[e] yowre corages.'-Chaucer's Boethius, ed. Morris, p. 62. And cf. the Teseide, ix. 51; and Homer, Il. viii. 19. Also Rom. de la Rose, 16988 : 'La bele chaéne dorée Qui les quatre elemens enlace.' 2136. What follows is taken from Boethius, lib. iv. pr. 6: 'pe engendrynge of alle pinges, quod she, and alle pe progressiouns of muuable nature, and alle þat moeuep in any manere, takiþ hys causes, hys ordre, and hys formes, of þe stablenesse of þe deuyne pouzt; [and thilke deuyne thowht] þat is yset and put in pe toure, þat is to seyne in þe heyзt of þe simplicite of god, stablisip many manere gyses to pinges pat ben to don.' -Chaucer's Boethius, ed. Morris, p. 134. 2147. Chaucer again is indebted to Boethius, lib. iii. pr. 10, for what follows: 'For al þing þat is cleped inperfit, is proued inperfit by þe amenusynge of perfeccioun, or of þing þat is perfit; and her-of comep it, þat in euery þing general, yif þat þat men seen any þing þat is inperfit, certys in þilke general þer mot ben somme þing þat is perfit. For yif so be þat perfeccioun is don awey, men may nat þinke nor seye fro whennes þilke ping is þat is cleped inperfit. For pe nature of þinges ne token nat her bygynnyng of pinges amenused and imperfit; but it procedip of þingus pat ben al hool and absolut, and descendep so doune into outerest pinges and into þingus empty and wiþoute frvyt; but, as I haue shewed a litel her-byforne, þat yif þer be a blisfulnesse þat be frele and vein and inperfit, þer may no man doute þat þer nys som blisfulnesse þat is sad, stedfast, and perfit.'-Chaucer (as above), p. 89. 2158. seen at eye, see at a glance. 2161-2210. Cf. the Teseide, xii. 7-10, 6, 11, 13, 9, 12-17, 19. 2184. So in Troilus, iv. 1586: 'Thus maketh vertu of necessite;' and in Squire's Tale, pt. ii. 1. 247 (Group F, 1. 593): 'That I made vertu of necessite.' It is from Le Roman de la Rose, 14217:— 'S'il ne fait de necessité Vertu.' Cf. Horace, Carm. i. 24: 'Durum sed leuius fit patientia Quidquid corrigere est nefas. 2210. Cf. The time renneth toward right fast, Joy cometh after whan the sorrow is past.' Hawes' Pastime of Pleasure, ed. Wright, p. 148. 2231. oghte to passen right, should surpass mere equity or justice. 2236-44. Cf. the Teseide, xii. 69, 72, 83. THE NONNE PRESTES TALE. 1. stope. Lansd. MS. reads stoupe, as if it signified bent, stooped; but the verb stoop is a weak verb. Stope is the past participle of the (formerly) strong verb steppen, to step, advance. Stope in age-advanced in years. Roger Ascham has almost the same phrase: 'And [Varró] beyng depe stept in age, by negligence some wordes do scape and fall from him in those bookes as be not worth the taking up,' &c.-The Schoolmaster, ed. Mayor, p. 189; ed. Arber, p. 152. 8. by housbondrye, by economy. 12. Ful sooty was hir bour, and eek hir halle. The widow's house consisted of only two apartments, designated by the terms bower and hall. Whilst the widow and her daughters two' slept in the bower, Chanticleer and his seven wives roosted on a perch in the hall, and the swine ensconced themselves on the floor. The smoke of the fire had to find its way through the crevices of the roof. See Our English Home, pp. 139, 140. Cf. 'At his beds feete feeden his stalled teme, His swine beneath, his pullen ore the beame?' Hall's Satires, bk. v. sat. I ; v. I. p. 56, ed. 1599. 15. No deyntee (Elles. &c.); Noon deynteth (Harl.). 19. hertes suffisaunce, a satisfied or contented mind, literally heart's satisfaction. Cf. our phrase 'to your heart's content.' 22. wyn... whyt nor reed. The white wine was sometimes called 'the wine of Osey' (Alsace); the red wine of Gascony, sometimes called 'Mountrose,' was deemed a liquor for a lord. See Our English Home, p. 83; Piers Pl. prol. 1. 228. 25. Seynd bacoun, singed or broiled bacon. an ey or tweye, an egg or two. 26. deye. The daia (from the Icel. deigja) is mentioned in Domesday among assistants in husbandry; and the term is again found in 2nd Stat. 25 Edward III (A. D. 1351). In Stat. 37 Edward III (A. D. 1363), the deye is mentioned among others of a certain rank, not having goods or chattels of 40s. value. The deye was mostly a female, whose duty was to make butter and cheese, attend to the calves and poultry, and other odds and ends of the farm. The dairy (in some parts of England, as in Shropshire, called a dey-house) was the department assigned to her. See Prompt. Parv., p. 116. 29. In Caxton's translation of Reynard the Fox, the cock's name is Chantecleer. In the original, it is Canticleer; from his clear voice in singing. In the same, Reynard's second son is Rosseel; see 1. 514. 31. orgon. This is put for orgons or organs. It is plain, from gon in the next line, that Chaucer meant to use this word as a plural from the Lat. organa. Organ was used until lately only in the plural, like bellows, gallows, &c. 'Which is either sung or said or on the organs played.'-Becon's Acts of Christ, p. 534. It was sometimes called a pair of organs. See note to P. Plowman, C. xxi. 7. 34. Cf. Parl. of Foules, 350: 'The cok, that orloge is of thorpes lyte.' 35, 36. The cock knew each ascension of the equinoctial, and crew at each; that is, he crew every hour, as 15° of the equinoctial make an hour. Chaucer adds [1. 34] that he knew the hour better than the abbey-clock. This tells us, clearly, that we are to reckon clock-hours, and not the unequal hours of the artificial day. Hence the prime, mentioned in 1. 377, was at a clock-hour, at 6, 7, 8, or 9, suppose. The day meant is certainly May 3, because the sun had passed the 21st degree of Taurus (see fig. 1 of Astrolabe)... The date May 3 is playfully denoted by saying that March was complete, and also (since March began) thirty-two days more had passed. The words "since March began are parenthetical; and we are, in fact, told that the whole of March, the whole of April, and two days of May were done with. March was then considered the first month in the year, though the year began with the 25th, not with the Ist; and Chaucer alludes to the idea that the Creation itself took place in March. The day, then, was May 3, with the sun past 21 degrees of Taurus. The hour must be had from the sun's altitude, rightly said (1. 379) to be Fourty degrees and oon. I use a globe, and find that the sun would attain the altitude 41° nearly at 9 o'clock. It follows that prime in this passage signifies the end of the first quarter of the day, reckoning from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.'— Skeat's Astrolabe, p. lxi. This rough test, by means of a globe, is perhaps sufficient; but Mr. Brae proved it to be right by calculation. Taking the sun's altitude at 4110, he ‘had the satisfaction to find a resulting hour for prime of 9 o'clock A.M. almost to the minute. It is interesting to find that Thynne explains this passage very well in his Animadversions on Speght's Chaucer; ed. Furnivall, p. 62, note 1. The notion that the Creation took place on the 18th of March is alluded to in the Hexameron of St. Basil (see the A.S. version, ed. Norman, p. 8, note j), and in Ælfric's Homilies, ed. Thorpe, i. 100. 37. Fifteen degrees of the equinoctial = an exact hour. See note to 1. 35 above. 40. and batailed. Lansd. MS. reads enbateled, indented like a battlement. 41. as the Ieet, like the jet. were frequently formed of jet. Beads used for the repetition of prayers |