PART II. § 1. Rubric, _hir cours_. The gender of the sun was feminine in

Anglo-Saxon, and that of the moon masculine; but in Chaucer's time, the gender was very variable, owing to the influence of Latin and French.

§ 3. Between sections 2 and 3, a section is inserted in the late copies, which merely repeats section 1, and is clearly spurious. It does not appear at all in the best MSS.; though it is found in the black-letter editions. I quote it here from MS. L.

'TO KNOWE THE DEGRE OF THYN SONNE IN THYN ZODIAK BY THE DAYS IN THE BAKSYDE OFF THE ASTROLABYE.

'[T]hanne iff þou wylte wete thatt / rekyn & knowe / qwych is the day off the monyth thatt thow arte yn_n_e, & ley thy rewle of thy astrolabye, that is to sey, the allydatha, vpon þe day in the kalendr_e_ off the Astrolabye, & he schall schewe the thy degree of the sonne.'

26, 7. After 'assendent,' the following additional paragraph occurs in MS. Bodley 619; fol. 21. It is worthy of notice, because the original of it appears in Messahala's treatise, with the title 'De noticia stellarum incognitarum positarum in astrolabio.' The paragraph runs thus:--

'Nota. þat by þis conclusio_n_ þou may knowe also where ben at þat same tyme all_e_ oþir sterres fixed þ_a_t ben sette in thin Astrelabie, and in what place of þe firmament; And also her arising in thy orizonte, and how longe þ_a_t thei wol ben aboue þe erthe wiþ þe Arke of þe nyght / And loke eu_er_more hov many degrees þou fynde eny sterre at þat tyme sitting vpon þin Almycant_er_as, and vp-on as many degrees sette þou þe reule vpon þe altitude in þe border_e_; And by the mediaciou_n_ of þy eye through þe .2. smale holes shalt thou se þe same sterre by the same altitude aforseid, And so by this conclusiou_n_ may þou redely knowe whiche is oo sterre from a-noþ_er_ in the firmament / for as many as ben in the Astrelabie. For by þ_a_t same altitude shal thou se that same sterre, & non othir / for þ_er_e ne woll_e_ non othir altitude accorde þerto.'

30. _Alhabor_; i.e. Sirius or the Dog-star, as is evident from the fact of its being represented by a dog's head on the Astrolabe; see also the table of stars marked on the Astrolabe (in MS. Camb. Univ. Lib. li. 3. 3, fol. 70, back), which gives the declination 15° S, the latitude 39° S, and places the star in Cancer. It is also plainly described in the same table as being 'in ore canis', so that it is difficult to resist the conclusion of the identity of Alhabor and Sirius. Mr. Brae, following later copies that have different readings of the numbers employed, identifies Alhabor with Rigel or [beta] Orionis. This is impossible, from the fact that Rigel and Alhabor _both_ occur in the diagrams and tables; see, for instance, Fig. 2. It is true that Rigel was sometimes called _Algebar_, but _Alhabor_ stands rather for the Arabic _Al-'ab[=u]r_. The Arabic name for the constellation Canis Major was _Al-kalb al-akbar_, 'greater dog,' as distinguished from _Al-kalb al-asghar_, or 'lesser dog'; and the star [alpha] Canis Majoris was called _Al-shi'ra al-'ab[=u]r_, the former of which terms represented the Greek [Greek: seirios] (_Sirius_), whilst from the latter (_al-'ab[=u]r_) we have our _Alhabor_. See Ideler, Über den Ursprung und die Bedeutung der Sternnamen, pp. 237, 256.

§ 4. 'The houses [in astrology] have different powers. The strongest of all these is the first, which contains the part of the heaven about to rise: this is called the _ascendant_; and the point of the ecliptic which is just rising is called the horoscope.'--English Encyclopædia; art. Astrology.

21. In the English Cyclopædia, art. Astrology, a quotation is given from an astrological work, in reply to the question whether the 'querent' should succeed as a cattle-dealer. It contains some words very similar to Chaucer's. 'If the lord of the sixth be in quartile, or in opposition to the dispositor of the part of Fortune, or the Moon, the querent cannot thrive by dealing in small cattle. The same if the lord of the sixth be afflicted either by Saturn, Mars, or the Dragon's Tail; or be found either retrograde, combust, cadent, or peregrine. [See l. 33.] The Dragon's Tail and Mars shew much loss therein by knaves and thieves, and ill bargains, &c.; and Saturn denotes much damage by the rot or murrain.' The evil influence of the Dragon's Tail is treated of in the last chapter of 'Hermetis Philosophi de revolutionibus nativitatum', fol. Basileæ; n.d.

32. 'May seen the ascendant.' Cf. 'Cum dominator ascendens viderit, res quæ occulta est secundum ascendentis naturam erit; quod si non videt, illud erit secundum naturam loci in quo ipse est dominator'; Cl. Ptolemæi _Centiloquium_; sect. 90.

33. _combust_, said of a planet when its light is quenched by being too near the sun. Tyrwhitt, in his Glossary, says that it is used when the planet is not more than 8½ degrees distant from the sun. Cf. Troilus, iii. 717, and the note.

40. _Face._ See note to Part I. sect. 21. l. 50 (p. 359). The late copies are very incorrect hereabouts.

§ 6. 9. Mr. Brae well calls attention here to the absurd errors in the printed copies. Thynne has 'in the 320 signe,' and Speght 'in the xxiii signe.' The signs of the zodiac are only twelve, and the one opposite to the 1st is the 7th.

§ 8. I see no reason for supposing this proposition to be an interpolation, as Mr. Brae suggests. Though similar to § 11, it is not identical with it. Moreover, it occurs in Messahala.

§ 9. 2. _the chapitre beforn_, i.e. a previous chapter, viz. in sect. 6. The expression supplies no argument for altering the order of the 'conclusions.'

4. _same manere_, i.e. a like manner. The 'vulgar night' clearly means that the quantity of the 'crepuscules' must be _subtracted_ from the 'arch of the night.'

§ 13. 5. _cours_, course; _heyest cours_, highest point of the path. Late copies have _lyne_; for which Mr. Brae suggested _degre_.

§ 14. 6. _but 2 degrees_. Suppose the sun's midday altitude is 49°, in latitude 52°. Then the co-latitude is 38°, and the sun's declination 11° North. This corresponds nearly (roughly speaking) to the 1st degrees of Taurus and Virgo. Which is right can 'lightly' be known by the time of year, for the sun cannot be in Virgo if the month be April. Compare sect. 15.

§ 17. This conclusion, as pointed out in the footnote, is not correct in theory, but can be made nearly so in practice, by taking the two altitudes _very near_ the meridian. This is directly implied in the words 'passeth any-thing the sowth westward,' i.e. passes _ever so little_ westward of the south line; cf. note below to 38. 10. Consequently, the first observation must also be taken very near the meridian.

25. _site_, situation. Late copies, _sight_. This proves that the word _site_ is Chaucerian, and clears up the reading in Ho. Fame, 1114.

§ 18. Instead of reckoning a star's right ascension by referring it to the equator, it was reckoned by observing the degree of the zodiac which southed along with it. This is expressed in the first 'Table of fixed stars' in MS. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ii. 3. 3 (fol. 70, back) by the phrase 'cum gradibus, quibus celum mediant'; the other co-ordinate of position was the star's declination from the equator, as in the modern method. The ancients also used the co-ordinates of longitude and latitude of a star, the longitude being reckoned along the ecliptic, and the latitude along great circles through the poles of the ecliptic; as appears from the second Table in the same MS.

§ 19. 6. _equinoxial._ This, as explained in the footnote, should be 'ecliptik'; but I can find no MS. authority for the alteration, though the correction is practically made in l. 13.

§ 22. 13. _place._ Late copies and old editions, _planet_; absurdly. Latitudes of several places are given in old Latin MSS. They are frequently incorrect.

§ 23. 3. The star A is shewn by the numbers to be the Pole-star, and is obviously the one to be observed in order to find the altitude of the Pole. What the star F is, is of no consequence. The numbers used in other copies are different, and much less satisfactory. That the star A is the Pole-star or some star near the pole in this 'conclusion' is rendered probable also by the wording of the next 'conclusion'; which extends the working of it to the case of any other star, provided it be a star that never sets.

§ 25. 19. When Chaucer says that the latitude of Oxford is 'certain minutes less,' he probably means no more than that the latitude of Oxford was 51 degrees and 50 minutes, as in the text. For I suspect the original reading of the passage made the sun's altitude 38 degrees only, and the latitude 52 degrees; indeed, the passage stands so in MSS. C and P, both good authorities. But he added the statement that the latitude of Oxford was less than 52 degrees. It is probable that, on second thoughts, he put in the number of _minutes_, and forgot to strike out the clause 'I sey nat this,' &c., which was no longer necessary. Minutes were seldom reckoned otherwise than by _tens_; 'a few minutes less than 50' (say 47) is a refinement to which the ancients seldom attained. Hence the amount of 10 minutes is vaguely spoken of in l. 31 as 'odde Minutes.' Minutes were clearly not much considered. In the present case, we are assisted by Chaucer's express statement in sect. 22. l. 6. The true latitude of Oxford is between 51° 45' and 51° 46'.

§ 26. 8-11. It is singular that this sentence, obviously wanted, should appear only in one MS., and has, accordingly, been omitted in all previous editions. There can be no doubt about the genuineness of it, as it so exactly gives the right sense, and happily supplies the words 'right orisonte' in l. 11; thus enabling the author to say, as in l. 21 he _does_ say--'this _forseid_ righte orisonte.'

16. _this figure._ Here occurs, in some of the MSS., a diagram representing a circle, i.e, a disc of the astrolabe, with straight lines drawn across it from left to right.

17. _assensiouns in the righte cercle._ This exactly answers to our modern 'right ascension.' We hence obtain the true origin of the phrase. 'Right ascension' was, originally, the ascension of stars at places situate _on the equator_, and was most conveniently measured along the equatorial circle, by observation of the times of transit of the various stars across the meridian. In other latitudes, the ascension of every degree of the _zodiac_ could be easily tabulated by observing what degree of the equator came to the meridian with the said degree of the zodiac; see l. 20. It hence appears that, whilst persisting in using 'longitudes' and reckoning along the zodiac, the ancients were obliged, in practice, to refer the degrees of longitude to the equator. The modern method of recognizing this necessity, and registering right ascensions as of more importance than longitudes, is a great improvement. The ancients were restrained from it by their unnecessary reverence for the zodiac. Cf. Ptolemy's Almagest, lib. i. c. xiii.

§ 29. Chaucer omits to say that the experiment should be made when the sun is very nearly on the meridian. Otherwise, the confusion of the azimuth with the hour-angle might cause a considerable error.

§ 30. 3. That the phrase 'wey of the sonne' really means the sun's apparent _diurnal_ course in this conclusion, may be further seen by consulting the Latin of Messahala. Cf. the Critical Note on p. 236.

§ 31. In my footnote, I have used the expression 'it does not mean, _as it should_, the zenith point.' I mean--'as, according to our modern ideas, it should';--for the derivation of _zenith_ shews that the meaning used in this proposition is the older meaning of the two. See note above to i. 19. 7 (p. 357).

6. _24 parties._ These 24 parts were suggested by the 24 hours of the day. The '32 parts' used by 'shipmen' are due to the continual halving of angles. Thus, the four cardinal points have points half-way between them, making eight points; between which, we can insert eight more, making sixteen; and between these, sixteen more, making thirty-two. Hence the 32 points of the compass.

§ 33. 5. We should probably insert _or south_ after the word _north_. Such an insertion is authorised by MSS. B. and C.

§ 34. 3. That 'upon the mones syde' means nearly in the same azimuth as the moon, is apparent from l. 11 below, where Chaucer says that some treatises make no exception even if the star is _not_ quite in the same azimuth. This was certainly a rough mode of observation.

§ 35. 9. _right side_, East side. See i. 6. 1 (p. 179).

18. _episicle_, epicycle. To account for the planetary motions, epicycles were invented. The moon, for instance, was supposed to revolve round a _moving_ centre, which centre itself moved round the earth in a perfect circle. This came a little nearer to the true motion in some instances, but was hopelessly wrong, and nothing could be made of it, even when a _second_ epicycle, revolving about a centre which moved in the _first_ epicycle, was superadded. All that Chaucer says here is, that, whilst the centre of the moon's epicycle had a direct motion, the moon's motion in the epicycle itself was a reverse one, unlike that of the other planetary bodies. The subject is hardly worth further discussion, so I merely refer the reader to the Almagest, lib. iv. c. 5; and lib. ix. c. 5.

§ 36. The 'equations of houses' means the dividing of the sphere into _equal_ portions, and the right numbering of those portions or houses. The most important house was the first, or ascendent, just rising; the next in importance was the tenth, which was just coming on the meridian; then come the seventh or descendent, just about to set, and the fourth, just coming to the line of midnight. The next in importance were the _succedents_, or houses immediately following these, viz. the second, the eleventh, the eighth, and the fifth. The least important were the third, twelfth, ninth, and sixth. See Fig. 14.

§ 37. 18. _thise 3 howsez._ That is, the nadirs of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th houses give the houses that 'follow,' i.e. the 8th, 9th, and 10th. The word 'follow' here seems to refer, not to position, but to the order in which the houses may most conveniently be found. Chaucer omits to add that the beginnings of the 5th and 6th houses can be found in a similar way, because it is sufficiently evident. It is all from Messahala.

§ 38. 1. _for warping, the brodere the bettre._ This may mean, either (1) to prevent warping, the thicker the better; or (2) to prevent the errors arising from warping (for fear of warping), the larger the better. I believe the latter to be the true interpretation; for it is better thus to guard against possible errors than to make the plate very thick and, at the same time, small. Besides which, the usual meaning of _brodere_ is _wider, larger, more ample_. Indeed, we find the very expression 'non sit tamen nimis parvus' in the 4th section of the Practica Chilindri of John Hoveden, published by the Chaucer Society; which see.

8. _fro the centre_, i.e. sticking up above the centre, the length of the wire being equal to a fourth of the diameter, or half the radius, of the circle. This proportion would do for many days in the year; but in the summer time, the pin would bear to be rather longer. Still, we need not alter the text. Cf. the Critical Note on p. 237.

10. _any-thing_, i.e. ever so little; so _ony-thyng_ in l. 13; cf. § 17. 6.

§ 39. Though MS. A is rather corrupt here, there is little doubt about the corrections to be made. See the Critical Notes, p. 237.

19. That is, the latitude, or breadth, of a climate, or belt, is measured along a line which goes from North to South as far as the earth extends; so that the latitude of the _first_ climate, for example, is measured from the beginning of it to the end of the same, in a due northerly direction. Other authors, he explains, reckoned the latitude of a climate always from the equinoxial line, instead of from the parallel of latitude which terminated the climate immediately to the south of it. Thus the latitude of the fourth climate might mean, either the breadth of that belt _itself_, or the _whole_ breadth from the equator to the Northern limit of that climate. The MS. E. 2 in St. John's College, Cambridge, contains (besides Chaucer's 'Astrolabe') a Latin treatise entitled 'De septe_m_ climatib_us_ expositio.' We find mention of the 'climates' also in MS. Camb. Ii. 3. 3, fol. 33 _b_, where a diagram appears representing a hemisphere, divided by parallels of latitude into 9 climates or belts, which, beginning from the equator, are as follows. 1. Inhabitabile propter Calorem. 2. Primum clima dia Meroes. 3. Secundum clima dya cienes. 4. Tertium clima di' alexandrios. 5. Quartum clima dia rodos. 6. Quintum clima dia romes. 7. Sextum clima dia boristenes. 8. Septimum clima dia rifeos. 9. Inhabitabile. This agrees with the list in the footnote on p. 221.

There is a passage in Mandeville which well illustrates Chaucer; I quote the part of it which more immediately relates to the Climates. 'For the Superficialtee of the Erthe is departed in 7 parties, for the 7 Planetes; and the parties ben clept Clymates. And oure parties be not of the 7 Clymates: for they ben descendynge toward the West. And also these yles of Ynde, which beth evene a[gh]enst us, beth noght reckned in the Climates: for thei ben a[gh]enst us, that ben in the lowe Contree. And the 7 Clymates strecchen hem, envyrounynge the World,' &c. Mandeville's Voiage, ed. Halliwell, p. 186. See also Ptolemy's Almagest, lib. ii.

As regards the longitudes of towns, it may be observed that in MS. F. 25 in St. John's College, Cambridge, the longitudes of Rome, Cordova, London, Paris, and Malta, are said to be 34° 24', 9° 30', 19°, 20°, and 38° respectively. These do not well agree together, but they suggest a reckoning from a meridian situated some 20° W. from that of Greenwich. Chaucer says nothing as to what meridian was used for reckoning longitudes from; and Messahala says, vaguely enough, that longitudes were reckoned 'a meridiano circulo ultime regionis habitabilis in occidente,' i.e. from the most westward habitable place, which possibly once meant Madeira.

§ 40. It is possible that this conclusion was really intended to belong to the Fourth Part of the treatise, and was written by way of instalment. See the Prologue, ll. 67-72. It is curious that in all the best MSS. (P. excepted) the last sentence should be incomplete.

13. This sentence is very awkward. It seems to mean--'and then set I the point of F upward in the same sign, because that the latitude was north, upon the latitude of Venus; that is to say, (I set it upward) keeping it in the 6th degree of Capricorn.' _Upward_ means inward, i.e. towards the centre or towards the north; the opposite being expressed by southward, or outward, or toward the border, as in l. 48 below. _Upon the latitude of Venus_ means that the point F of the compass was set above the second degree of latitude, so that the space between the legs of the compass became equal to 2 degrees, as said in l. 16. Lastly, the words _that is to seyn, in the 6 degree_, &c., are an explanation of the vaguer expression _in the same signe_. The repetition of the words _that is to seyn_, &c. (ll. 12 and 14), is intended to draw attention to the necessity of keeping _both_ legs of the compass in the same degree of longitude (A on the zodiac, and F to the north of it).

57. Possibly Chaucer left the sentence incomplete. The words 'thou shalt do well enough' may easily have been added by another hand to bring the sentence to an apparent, though not wholly satisfactory, conclusion. The colophon is written (in a later hand) in MS. A. at the bottom of the page, a part of which, after the words 'howre after howre,' is left blank.

41-43. I have mended the text as well as I could by inserting words, and adopting different readings. Nearly all the emendations rest on authority; see the Critical Notes. The text is not a good one, but I do not see why these sections may not have been written by Chaucer. For a definition of the terms 'Umbra Extensa' and 'Umbra Versa' see sections 5 and 6 of the Practica Chilindri of John Hoveden, published by the Chaucer Society. The _umbra extensa_ or _recta_ is the shadow cast on a plain by any perfectly upright object; but the restriction is commonly introduced, that the altitude of the sun shall exceed 45º. The _umbra versa_ is the shadow cast _perpendicularly_ downwards along a wall by a style which projects from the wall at right angles to it; the restriction is commonly introduced, that the sun's altitude shall be less than 45°. The _umbra versa_ is the one which appeared on the 'chylindre'; hence John de Hoveden explains how to calculate the altitude of an object by it.

44. This article and the next may possibly be Chaucer's. It is well known that he speaks of 'collect' and 'expans yeres' and 'rotes' in the Frankeleines Tale; Cant. Ta., F 1275, 6, the note upon which in the glossary to Urry's Chaucer may be found also in Tyrwhitt's Glossary, s.v. _Expans_; but it is worth while to repeat it here. 'In this and the following verses, the Poet describes the Alphonsine Astronomical Tables by the several parts of them, wherein some technical terms occur, which were used by the old astronomers, and continued by the compilers of those tables. _Collect_ years are certain sums of years, with the motions of the heavenly bodies corresponding to them, as of 20, 40, 60, &c., disposed into tables; and _Expans_ years are the single years, with the motions of the heavenly bodies answering to them, beginning at 1, and continued on to the smallest _Collect_ sum, as 20. A _Root_, or _Radix_, is any certain time taken at pleasure, from which, as an era, the celestial motions are to be computed. By 'proporcionels convenientes' [C. T., F 1278] are meant the Tables of Proportional parts.' To which Moxon adds, from Chamber's Encyclopædia, with reference to C. T., F 1277, that '_Argument_ in astronomy is an arc whereby we seek another unknown arc proportional to [or rather, dependent upon] the first.'

Tables of mean motions of the Sun are given in Ptolemy's Almagest, lib. iii. c. 2; of the Moon, lib. iv. c. 3; of the Planets, lib. viii. c. 3; also in MS. Ii. 3. 3, fol. 88_b_, &c.

41_A_-42_B_. The fact that these articles are mere repetitions of sections 41-43 is almost conclusive against their genuineness. I do not suppose that sect 46 (at p. 229) is Chaucer's either, but it is added for the sake of completeness.

THE CANTERBURY TALES.

SOURCES OF THE CANTERBURY TALES.

CONTENTS.

§ 1. The series of Tales. § 2. The Prologues to Piers the Plowman and to the Canterbury Tales compared. § 3. Date of the Tales; from 1386 onwards. § 4. Number of the Tales. § 5. Old and new material. § 6. Days of the month for the various Groups. § 7. Arrangement of the Groups. § 8. Group A nearly finished. § 9. The Tale of Gamelyn. § 10. The Plowman's Tale. § 11. Early and late Tales. § 12. The test of rhythm. § 13. Origin of the heroic couplet. § 14. Modification of Chaucer's original scheme. § 15. The Tale of Beryn. § 16. Lydgate's Storie of Thebes. § 17. GROUP A. The Prologue. § 18. The Knightes Tale: Palamon and Arcite. § 19. Boccaccio's Teseide. § 20. Tyrwhitt's analysis of the Teseide. § 21. Resemblances to Troilus. § 22. Later versions of the Knightes Tale. § 23. The Miller's Prologue. § 24. The Milleres Tale. § 25. The Reeve's Prologue. § 26. The Reves Tale. § 27. The Cook's Prologue. § 28. The Cokes Tale. §§ 29-34. The Tale of Gamelyn. § 35. GROUP B. The Words of the Host to the Company. § 36. The Man of Law's Prologue. § 37. The Man of Lawes Tale. § 38. The same Tale, as told by Gower. § 39. The Shipman's Prologue. § 40. The Shipmannes Tale. § 41. The Prioress's Prologue. § 42. The Prioresses Tale. § 43. Prologue to Sir Thopas. § 44. Sir Thopas. § 45. Prologue to Melibeus. § 46. The Tale of Melibeus. § 47. The Monk's Prologue. § 48. The Monkes Tale. § 49. The Prologue of the Nonne Preestes Tale. § 50. The Nonne Preestes Tale. § 51. Epilogue to the Nonne Preestes Tale. § 52. GROUP C. The Spurious Prologues to the Phisiciens Tale. § 53. The Phisiciens Tale. § 54. Words of the Host to the Phisicien and the Pardoner. § 55. Prologue of the Pardoneres Tale. § 56. The Pardoneres Tale. § 57. GROUP D. The Wife of Bath's Prologue. § 58. The Wyf of Bathes Tale. § 59. The Friar's Prologue. § 60. The Freres Tale. § 61. The Somnour's Prologue. § 62. The Somnours Tale. § 63. GROUP E. The Clerk's Prologue. § 64. The Clerkes Tale. § 65. The Merchant's Prologue. § 66. The Marchantes Tale. § 67. GROUP F. The Squire's Prologue. § 68. The Squieres Tale. § 69. Words of the Frankeleyn. § 70. The Franklin's Prologue. § 71. The Frankeleyns Tale. § 72. GROUP G. The Seconde Nonnes Tale. § 73. The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue and Tale. § 74. GROUP H. The Manciple's Prologue. § 75. The Manciples Tale. § 76. GROUP I. The Parson's Prologue. § 77. The Persones Tale.

ACCOUNT OF THE SOURCES OF THE CANTERBURY TALES.

THE NINE GROUPS.

§ 1. The idea of joining together a series of Tales by means of fitting them into a common frame-work is a very old one, and doubtless originated in the East. There is an English collection of this character known as 'The Seven Sages,' of which various versions have come down to us. The earliest of these, as published in the second volume of Weber's Metrical Romances, has been dated about 1320; and is, at any rate, older than any of Chaucer's poems. Another collection, of a similar character, and likewise of Eastern origin, is a Latin work by Petrus Alphonsus, a converted Spanish Jew, entitled De Clericali Disciplina. See Dunlop's History of Fiction, chap.