Canto xxxiii. ll. 1-21; and are quoted in the notes to Cary's translation.

I am persuaded that ll. 36-56 (three stanzas) were added at a later period. Being taken from Dante, they could hardly have been written very early; whereas the Life of St. Cecile seems to have been quite a juvenile performance. And this explains why the phrase 'Me, flemed wrecche' in l. 58 is so far removed from the parallel expression, viz. 'us wrecches,' in l. 32. Cf. note to l. 58.

l. 36. 'Vergine madre, figlia del tuo Figlio, l. 39. Umile ed alta più che creatura, Termine fisso d'eterno consiglio, Tu se' colei che l' umana natura l. 40, 41. Nobilitastì si, che il suo Fattore l. 41, 42. Non disdegnò di farsi sua fattura. l. 43. Nel ventre tuo si raccese l' amore, l. 44. Per lo cui caldo nell' eterna pace Cosi è germinato questo fiore. Qui sei a noi meridiana face Di caritade, e giuso, intra i mortali, Sé' di speranza fontana vivace. Donna, se' tanto grande, e tanto vali, Che qual vuol grazia, e a te non ricorre, Sua disianza vuol volar senz' ali. ll. 53, 54. La tua benignità non pur soccorre ll. 53, 54. A chi dimanda, ma molte fiate ll. 55, 56. Liberamente al dimandar precorre. l. 51. In te misericordia, in te pietate, l. 50. In te magnificenza, in te s'aduna Quatunque in creatura è di bontate.'

The numbers at the side denote the corresponding lines.

40. _nobledest_, didst ennoble; Dante's 'nobilitasti.' [404]

42. The translation is inexact. Dante says--'that its Maker (i. e. the Maker of human nature) did not disdain to become His own creature,' i. e. born of that very human nature which He had Himself created. Cf. l. 49.

45. 'Who is Lord and Guide of the threefold space'; i. e. of the three abodes of things created, viz. the earth, the sea, and the heavens.

46. _out of relees_, without release, i. e. without relaxation, without ceasing. _Out of_ means _without_, as is clear from Prol. 487; Kn. Tale, A. 1141; and _relees_ means _acquittance_ (O. Fr. _relais_); see Cler. Tale, E. 153, &c. There has been some doubt about the meaning of this phrase, but there need be none; especially when it is remembered that _to release_ is another form of _to relax_, so that _relees_ = _relaxation_, i. e. slackening. The idea is the same as that so admirably expressed in the Prolog im Himmel to Goethe's Faust.

50. _Assembled is in thee_, there is united in thee; cf. Dante--'in te s'aduna.' This stanza closely resembles the fourth stanza of the Prioresses Prologue, B. 1664-1670.

52. _sonne._ By all means let the reader remember that _sonne_ was probably still feminine in English in Chaucer's time, as it is in German, Dutch, and Icelandic to this day. It will be found, however, that Chaucer commonly identifies the sun with Phoebus, making it masculine; see Prol. 8, Kn. Tale, A. 1493. Still, there is a remarkable example of the old use in the first rubric of Part ii. of Chaucer's Astrolabe--'To fynde the degree in which the sonne is day by day, after _hir_ cours a-boute.' So again, in Piers Plowman, B. xviii. 243.

56. _hir lyves leche_, the physician of their lives (_or_ life).

58. _flemed wrecche_, banished exile. The proper sense of A. S. _wræcca_ is an exile, a stranger; and thence, a miserable being. The phrase 'fleming of wrecches,' i. e. banishment of the miserable, occurs in Chaucer's Troilus, iii. 933. And see note to l. 36 above.

Lounsbury (Studies, ii. 389) compares this line with l. 62 below, and suggests that Chaucer may have been influenced here by an expression in St. Bernard's Works (cf. l. 30): Respice ergo, beatissima Virgo, ad nos proscriptos in exsilio filios Euae'; Tractatus ad Laudem Gloriosae Virginis; in the Works, vol. i. p. 1148, in Migne's Patrologia, vol. 182. This suggestion greatly strengthens the probability, that ll. 36-56 form a later insertion.

_galle_, bitterness. There is probably an allusion to the name Mary, and to the Hebrew _mar_, fem. _mârâh_, bitter. Cf. Exod. xv. 23; Acts viii. 23; Ruth i. 20. Cf. Chaucer's A B C, l. 50.

59. _womman Cananee_, a translation of _mulier Chananaea_ in the Vulgate version of Matt. xv. 22. Wyclif calls her 'a womman of Canane.'

60. Compare Wyclif's version--'for whelpis eten of the crummes that fallen doun fro the bord of her lordis'; Matt. xv. 27.

62. _sone of Eve_, son of Eve, i. e. the author himself. This, as Tyrwhitt remarks (Introd. Discourse, note 30), is a clear proof that [405] the Tale was never properly revised to suit it for the collection. The expression is unsuitable for the supposed narrator, the Second Nun.

64. See James, ii. 17.

67. _ful of grace_; alluding to the phrase 'Aue gratia plena' in Luke, i. 28.

68. _advócat_, accented on the penultimate.

69. _Ther-as_, where that. _Osanne_, Hosanna, i. e. 'Save, we pray,' from Ps. cxviii. 25. See Concise Dict. of the Bible.

70. The Virgin Mary was said to have been the daughter of Joachim and Anna; see the Protevangelion of James, and the Legenda Aurea, cap. cxxi--'De natiuitate beatae Mariae uirginis.' Cf. D. 1613.

75. _haven of refut_, haven of refuge. See the same term similarly applied in B. 852, above. Cf. Chaucer's A. B. C., l. 14.

78. _reden_, read. This is still clearer proof that the story was not originally meant to be narrated. Cf. note to l. 62.

82. _him_, i. e. Jacobus Januensis. _at the_, &c., out of reverence for the saint.

83. _hir legende_, her (St. Cecilia's) legend as told in the Aurea Legenda. But cf. note to l. 349.

85. The five stanzas in ll. 85-119 really belong to the Legend itself, and are in the original Latin. Throughout the notes to the rest of this Tale I usually follow the 2nd edition of the Legenda Aurea, cap. clxix, as edited by Dr. Th. Grässe; Leipsic, 1850.

87. Several of the Legends of the Saints begin with ridiculous etymologies. Thus the Legend of St. Valentine (Aur. Leg. cap. xlii) begins with the explanation that Valentinus means _ualorem tenens_, or else _ualens tyro_. So here, as to the etymology of Caecilia, we are generously offered _five_ solutions, all of them being wrong. As it is hopeless to understand them without consulting the original, I shall quote as much of it as is necessary, arranged in a less confused order. The true etymology is, of course, that Caecilia is the feminine of Caecilius, a name borne by members of the Caecilia gens, which claimed descent from Caeculus, an ancient Italian hero, son of Vulcan, who is said to have founded Praeneste. Caeculus, probably a nickname, can hardly be other than a mere diminutive of _caecus_, blind. The legendary etymologies are right, accordingly, only so far as they relate to _caecus_. Beyond that, they are strange indeed.

The following are the etymologies, with their reasons.

(1) Caecilia = coeli lilia (_sic_), i. e. _hevenes lilie_. Reasons:--'Fuit enim coeleste lilium per uirginitatis pudorem; uel dicitur _lilium_, quia habuit candorem munditiae, uirorem conscientiae, odorem bonae famae.' See ll. 87-91. Thus _grene_ (= greenness) translates _uirorem_.

(2) Caecilia = caecis uia, i. e. _the wey to blinde_, a path for the blind. Reason:--'Fuit enim caecis uia per exempli informationem.' See ll. 92, 93.

(3) Caecilia is from _caelum_ and _lya_. 'Fuit enim ... _coelum_ (_sic_) per iugem contemplationem, _lya_ per assiduam operationem.' Here _lya_ is [406] the same as _Lia_, which is the Latin spelling of Leah in the Book of Genesis. It was usual to consider Leah as the type of activity, or the Active Life, and Rachel as the type of the Contemplative Life. See Hampole's Prose Treatises, ed. Perry (E. E. T. S.), p. 29, where the comparison is attributed to St. Gregory. '_Lya_ is als mekill at say as trauyliose, and betakyns actyfe lyfe.'

(4) Caecilia, 'quasi caecitate carens.' This is on the celebrated principle of 'lucus a non lucendo.' Reason:--'fuit caecitate carens per sapientiae splendorem.' See ll. 99-101.

(5) 'Vel dicitur a _coelo_ et _leos_, i. e. populus.' Finally, recourse is had to Greek, viz. Gk. [Greek: leôs], the Attic form of [Greek: laos]. Reason:--'fuit et coelum populi, quia in ipsa tamquam in coelo spirituali populus ad imitandum intuetur coelum, solem, lunam, et stellas, i. e. sapientiae perspicacitatem, fidei magnanimitatem et uirtutum uarietatem.' See ll. 102-112.

113-118. Chaucer has somewhat varied the order; this last stanza belongs in the Latin to derivation (3), though it may serve also for derivation (5). It is probably for this reason that he has reserved it. The Latin is--'Vel dicitur coelum, quia, sicut dicit Ysidorus, coelum philosophi uolubile, rotundum et ardens esse dixerunt. Sic et ipsa fuit uolubilis per operationem sollicitam, rotunda per perseuerantiam, ardens per caritatem succensam.' For the _swiftness_ and _roundness_ of heaven, see note to B. 295. The epithet _burning_ is due to quite another matter, not explained in that note. The nine astronomical spheres there mentioned did not suffice for the wants of theology. Hence a _tenth_ sphere was imagined, external to the ninth; but this was supposed to be fixed, whereas the _ninth_ sphere (or _primum mobile_) had a swift diurnal movement of revolution (note to B. 295), and thus supplied the two former epithets. The outermost sphere was called the _empyraeum_ (from Gk. [Greek: empuros], burning, which from [Greek: en], in, and [Greek: pur], fire) where the pure element of fire subsisted alone; and it was supposed to be the abode of saints and angels. Milton, in his Paradise Lost, uses the word _empyrean_ six times, ii. 771, iii. 57, vi. 833, vii. 73, 633, x. 321; and the word _empyreal_ eleven times.

120. For some account of St. Caecilia, see vol. iii. p. 489. Compare also the Life of St. Cecilia as printed in the South-English Legendary, ed. Horstmann (E. E. T. S.), p. 490.

133. _an heyre_, a hair shirt. The usual expression; see I. 1052; and P. Plowman, B. v. 66. Lat. text--'cilicio erat induta.'

134. _the organs_; Lat. 'cantantibus organis.' We should now say 'the organ'; but in old authors the plural form is commonly employed. Sometimes the word _organ_ seems to refer to a single pipe only, and the whole instrument was called 'the organs' or 'a pair of organs,' where _pair_ means a _set_, as in the phrase 'a peire of bedes'; Ch. Prol. 159. In the Nonne Preestes Tale, B. 4041, Chaucer uses _orgon_ as a plural, equivalent to the Lat. _organa_. On the early meaning of _organum_, see Chappell's Hist. of Music, i. 327. [407]

St. Cecilia is commonly considered the patroness of music; see Dryden's Ode for St. Cecilia's day, and Alexander's Feast, ll. 132-141. But the connexion of her name with music is not very ancient, as Mrs. Jameson explains. The _reason_ for this connexion seems to me clear enough, viz. the simple fact that the word _organis_ occurs in this very passage. Besides, St. Cecilia is here represented as singing _herself_--'in corde soli domino _decantabat_ dicens'; see l. 135. The South-E. Legendary (see n. to l. 120) says she sang a verse of the Psalter.

145. _conseil_, a secret; Lat. 'mysterium.' And so in l. 192, and in P. Plowm. B. v. 168; see note to C. 819 above. _and_, if.

150. _here_, her, is a dissyllable in Chaucer whenever it ends a line, which it does six times; see e.g. B. 460; Kn. Tale, 1199 (A. 2057). This is quite correct, because the A. S. form _hire_ is dissyllabic also.

159. _me gye_, rule me, keep me; lit. guide me.

173. Chaucer has here mistranslated the Latin. It is not said that the Via Appia (which led out of Rome through the Porta Capena to Aricia, Tres Tabernae, Appii Forum, and so on towards Capua and Brundusium) was situated three miles from Rome; but that Valerian is to go along the Appian Way as far as to the third milestone. 'Vade igitur in tertium milliarium ab urbe uia quae Appia nuncupatur.' See the South-E. Legendary, l. 37.

177. _Urban._ St. Urban's day is May 25. This is Urban I., pope, who succeeded Calixtus, A.D. 222. Besides the notice of him in this Tale, his legend is given separately in the Legenda Aurea, cap. lxxvii. He was beheaded May 25, 230, and succeeded by Pontianus.

178. _secree nedes_, secret necessary reasons; Lat. 'secreta mandata.'

181. _purged yow_, viz. by the rite of baptism.

186. _seintes buriels_, burial-places of the saints; Lat. 'sepulchra martirum.' It is worth observing, perhaps, that the form _buriels_ is properly _singular_, not plural; cf. A. S. _byrigels_, a sepulchre, and see the examples in Stratmann. In P. Plowman, B. xix. 142, the Jews are represented as guarding Christ's body because it had been foretold that He should rise from the tomb--

'þat þat blessed body · of _burieles_ shulde rise.'

The mistake of supposing _s_ to be the mark of a plural was easily made, and the singular form _buriel_ was evolved. This mistake occurs as early as in Wyclif's Bible, IV Kings xxiii. 17; see Way's note in Prompt. Parv. p. 37, note 1. Consequently, it is most likely that Chaucer has made the same mistake here. The South-E. Legendary (see note to l. 120) says that Urban dwelt 'among puttes and burieles.'

There is here a most interesting allusion to the celebrated catacombs of Rome; see Chambers, Book of Days, i. 101, 102.

_lotinge_, lying hid. In MS. E., the Latin word _latitantem_ is written above, as a gloss. This was taken from the Latin text, which has--'intra sepulchra martirum latitantem.' Stratmann gives six examples [408] of the use of _lotien_ or _lutien_, to lie hid. It occurs once in P. Plowman, B. xvii. 102.

201. _An old man_; i. e. an angel in the form of an old man, viz. St. Paul. Cf. note to l. 207.

202. _with lettre of gold_; Lat. 'tenens librum aureis litteris scriptum.' L. 203 is not in the original.

205. 'When he (Valerian) saw him (the old man); and he (the old man) lifted up him (Valerian); and then he (Valerian) began thus to read in his (the old man's) book.' This is very ambiguous in Chaucer, but the Latin is clear. 'Quem uidens Ualerianus prae nimio timore quasi mortuus cecidit, et a sene leuatus sic legit.'

207. _Oo lord_, one lord. Tyrwhitt prints _On_, 'to guard against the mistake which the editions generally have fallen into, of considering _o_, in this passage, as the sign of the vocative case.' For the same reason, I have printed _Oo_, as in MS. Pt., in preference to the single _O_, as in most MSS. Even one of the scribes has fallen into the trap, and has written against this passage--'Et lamentat.' See MS. Cp., in the Six-text edition. The fact is, obviously, that ll. 207-209 are a close translation of Eph. iv. 5, 6. Hence the old man was St. Paul.

208. _Cristendom_, baptism; Lat. 'baptisma.' See l. 217.

216. We must read _the_ before _oldë_, not _this_ or _that_, because _e_ in _the_ must be elided; otherwise the line will not scan.

223-224. _that oon_, the one; sometimes written _the ton_ or _the toon_. _That other_, the one; sometimes written _the tother_. 'The ton' is obsolete; but 'the tother' may still be heard. _That_ is the neuter of the A. S. def. article _se_, _s[=e]o_, _þæt_; cf. Germ. _der_, _die_, _das_.

As to the signification of the red and white flowers, see note to l. 27 above.

Compare Act v. sc. 1 of Massinger's Virgin Martyr, where an angel brings flowers from St. Dorothea, who is in paradise, to Theophilus. See note to l. 248 below.

232. _for_, because; Lat. 'quia.'

236. Afterwards repeated, very nearly, in Kn. Tale, l. 338 (A. 1196).

243. _savour undernom_, perceived the scent; Lat. 'sensisset odorem.'

246. Cf. the South-E. Legendary (see note to l. 120), l. 89.

'Brother, he seyde, how goth this? _This tyme of the yere_ So swote smul ne smelde I neuere, me thinkth, as I do here.'

248. _rose._ We should have expected _roses_. Perhaps this is due to the peculiar form of the Latin text, which has--'roseus hic odor et liliorum.'

Compare the words of Theophilus in the Virgin Martyr, v. 1:--

'What flowers are these?' &c.

270. Ll. 270-283 are certainly genuine, and the passage is in the Latin text. It is also in the French version, but it does not appear in the Early English version of the story printed by Mr. Furnivall from MS. Ashmole 43, nor in the English version printed by Caxton in 1483; [409] nor in the version in the South-E. Legendary. Tyrwhitt's supposition is no doubt correct, viz. that this passage 'appears evidently to have been at first a marginal observation and to have crept into the [Latin] text by the blunder of some copyist.' He truly observes that these fourteen lines 'interrupt the narrative awkwardly, and to little purpose.'

271. _Ambrose._ 'Huic miraculo de coronis rosarum Ambrosius attestatur in praefatione, sic dicens,' &c. I cannot find anything of the kind in the indices to the works of St. Ambrose.

In the Sermons of Jacques de Vitry, a story is given beginning with the words--'Beatus Ambrosius narrat,' to this effect. St. Ambrose tells of a virgin going to martyrdom, who was asked by a pagan whither she was going. She answered: 'to see my friend, who has invited me to his wedding-feast.' The pagan, deriding her, said: 'Tell your friend to send me some of his roses.' Shortly after her death, a beautiful youth brought to the pagan a basket full of full-blown roses, saying, 'The friend of the woman, who just now passed by, sends you some of the roses you desired,' and then disappeared. The pagan was converted and himself suffered martyrdom. This is the story of St. Dorothea, whose day is Feb. 6; for which Alban Butler refers us to Aldhelm, De Laude Virginitatis, c. 25.

276. _eek hir chambre_, even hir marriage-chamber, i. e. even marriage. _weyve_, waive, abandon. Lat. 'ipsum mundum est cum thalamis exsecrata.' _weyve_ occurs again in some MSS. of Chaucer's _Truth_, l. 20.

277. _shrifte_, confession. Lat. 'testis est Valeriani coniugis et Tiburtii prouocata confessio, quos, Domine, angelica manu odoriferis floribus coronasti.' For _Valerians_, all the MSS. have _Cecilies_. Whether the mistake is Chaucer's or his scribes', I cannot say; but it is so obviously a mere slip, that we need not hesitate to correct it. The French text is even clearer than the Latin; it has--'et de cest tesmoing Valerien son mary et Tiburcien son frere.' Besides, the express mention of 'these men' in l. 281 is enough, in my opinion, to shew that the slip was _not_ Chaucer's own; or, at any rate, was a mere oversight.

282. 'The world hath known (by their example) how much, in all truth, it is worth to love such devotion to chastity.' Lat. 'mundus agnouit, quantum ualeat deuotio castitatis;--haec Ambrosius.' This is quoted as St. Ambrose's opinion. The parenthesis ends here.

288. _beste_, i. e. void of understanding, as a beast of the field is. Lat. 'pecus est.'

315. _And we._ Tyrwhitt remarks that _we_ should have been _us_. But a glance at the Latin text shews what was in Chaucer's mind; he is here merely anticipating the _we_ in l. 318. Lat. 'et _nos_ in illius flammis pariter inuoluemur, et dum quaerimus diuinitatem latentem in coelis, incurremus furorem exurentem in terris.' The sentence is awkward; but _we_ was intended. The idiom has overridden the grammar. Cf. the South-E. Legendary (see note to l. 120), l. 121:--

'Forberne he scholde, and _we_ also, yif we with him were.' [410]

319. _Cecile._ This is one of the clearest instances to shew that Chaucer followed the Latin and not the French version. Lat. 'Cui Caecilia'; Fr. 'et Valerien dist.' Mr. Furnivall has noted this and other instances, and there is no doubt about the matter.

320. _skilfully_, reasonably; the usual meaning at this date. See l. 327.

325-332. Not in the South-E. Legendary.

327. 'And all that has been created by a reasonable Intelligence.'

329. _Hath sowled_, hath endued with a soul, hath quickened; Lat. 'animauit.'

335. _o god_, one God. We must suppose this teaching to be included in the mention of Christ in l. 295; otherwise there is no allusion to it in the words of Cecilia. The doctrine had been taught to Valerian however; see ll. 207, 208.

There are continual allusions, in the Lives of the Saints, to the difficulty of this doctrine.

338. Chaucer is not quite exact. The Latin says that three things reside in a man's wisdom, the said wisdom being but _one_. 'Sicut in una hominis sapientia tria sunt, ingenium, memoria et intellectus.' The notion resembles that in a favourite passage from Isidore quoted in Piers Plowman, B. xv. 39, to the effect that the soul (_anima_) has different names according to its functions. Compare the curious illustrations of the doctrine of the Trinity in the same, B. xvi. 220-224, xvii. 137-249. The illustration in the text is, as Mr. Jephson points out, by no means a good one.

341. The word _Three_ stands alone in the first foot. See note to l. 353.

343. _come_, coming, i. e. incarnation; Lat. 'aduentu.' Tyrwhitt reads _sonde_, i. e. sending, message; but incorrectly.

345. _withholde_, detained, constrained to dwell; Lat. 'tentus'; Fr. 'tenu.'

346. Hitherto Chaucer's translation is, on the whole, very close. Here he omits a whole sentence, and begins to abbreviate the story and alter it to suit himself. See his hint in l. 360.

349. Here begins, practically, the _second part_ of the story, in which the _second_ Latin text is more freely consulted; see vol. iii. p. 488.

351. _That_, who. In MS. E. the word is glossed by--'qui, scilicet Vrbanus.' It is remarkable that the relative _who_ (as a _simple_ relative, without _so_ suffixed) is hardly to be found in English of this date, in the _nominative_ case. The A. S. hw[=a] is only used interrogatively. See March, Anglo-Saxon Grammar, p. 179.

353. _goddes knight_, God's servant, or rather, God's soldier; see l. 383, and the note. In the A. S. version of the Gospels, Christ's disciples are called 'leorning-cnihtas.' In the Ormulum and in Wyclif _cniht_ or _kni[gh]t_ sometimes means a servant, but more commonly a soldier. Priests are called 'goddes knyghtes' in Piers Plowman, B. xi. 304. In scanning this line, either _lerninge_ is of three syllables (which I doubt) or else the first syllable in _Parfit_ forms a foot by itself; see note to l. 341 above. [411]

361. In the South-E. Legendary, their crime is specified; they had buried two Christian martyrs.

362. _Almache_; Lat. 'Almachius praefectus.' The reigning emperor was Alexander Severus (A.D. 222-235).

363. _apposed_, questioned, examined; written _opposed_ in most MSS., but corrected by Tyrwhitt. Ed. 1532 also has _aposed_. A similar confusion occurs in the Freres Tale, D. 1597, where only two MSS., viz. Pt. and Ln., have the spelling _appose_, as against five others which read _opposen_. In MSS. of Piers the Plowman, we find _appose_, to question, B. iii. 5; _apposed_, i. 47; _apposeden_, vii. 138. See _Appose_ in the New E. Dict.; where it is shewn that _appose_ was, at first, a mere variant of _oppose_, but came to be regarded as a correct form with a special sense; though, strictly speaking, it was a corruption.

365. _sacrifyse_, sacrifice to the idol. This was the usual test to which Christians were subjected; see note to l. 395. Compare Dan. iii. 14, 18. So in the Virgin Martyr, iv. 2:--

'Bow but thy knee to Jupiter, and offer Any slight sacrifice; or do but swear By Caesar's fortune, and--be free!'

367. _thise martirs_; note that this is an accusative case.

369. _corniculere_, a sort of officer. The note in Bell's edition, that the French version has _prevost_ here, is wrong. The word _prevost_ (Lat. _praefectus_) is applied to Almachius. Maximus was only a subordinate officer, and is called in the Early Eng. version (MS. Ashmole 43) the 'gailer.' The expression 'Maximo Corniculario' occurs only in the Lives of Valerian and Tiburtius, in the Acta Sanctorum (April 14); and we thus gather that Chaucer consulted this source also. This was noticed by Dr. Kölbing, in the Englische Studien, i. 215; and I subsequently noticed it myself, independently.

Riddle's Lat. Dict. gives--'_Cornicularius_, -i. m. a soldier who was presented with a _corniculum_, and by means of it promoted to a higher rank; hence, _an assistant of an officer_, Suetonius, Domit. 17; then also in the civil service, _an assistant of a magistrate, a clerk, registrar, secretary_; Cod. Just.'

'_Corniculum_, -i. n. (dimin. of _cornu_). 1. _A little horn_, Pliny; also, _a small funnel of horn_, Columella. _An ornament in the shape of a horn worn on the helmet_, with which officers presented meritorious soldiers; Livy, 10. 44.'

Ducange gives several examples, shewing that the word commonly meant a secretary, clerk, or registrar. Tyrwhitt refers us to Pitiscus, Lex. Ant. Rom. s. v. _Cornicularius_.

373. 'He got leave for himself from the executioners.' _tormentoures_, executioners; Lat. 'carnifices.' See l. 527. Cf. _tormentor_ in Matt, xviii. 34; see Wright's Bible Word-book.

380. _preestes_, priests. The original says that pope Urban came himself. [412]

383. _knightes_, soldiers; as in l. 353. Lat. 'Eia milites Christi, abicite opera tenebrarum, et induimini arma lucis.' See Rom. xiii. 12.

386. Tyrwhitt notes a slight defect in the use of _y-doon_ in l. 386, followed by _doon_ in l. 387. The first six lines in this stanza are not in the original, but are imitated from 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.

395. 'This was the criterion. The Christians were brought to the image of Jupiter or of the Emperor, and commanded to join in the sacrifice, by eating part of it, or to throw a few grains of incense into the censer, in token of worship; if they refused, they were put to death. See Pliny's celebrated letter to Trajan. Those who complied were termed _sacrificati_ and _thurificati_ by the canons, and were excluded from the communion for seven or ten years, or even till their death, according to the circumstances of their lapse.--See Bingham's Antiquities, b. xvi. 4. 5.'--Note in Bell's edition of Chaucer. Cf. note to l. 365.

This stanza is represented in the original (in spite of the hint in l. 394) by only a few words. 'Quarto igitur milliario ab urbe sancti ad statuam Iovis ducuntur, et dum sacrificare nollent, pariter decollantur.'

405. _to-bete_, beat severely; _dide him so to-bete_, caused (men) to beat him so severely, caused him to be so severely beaten. I have no hesitation in adopting the reading of ed. 1532 here. _To-bete_ is just the right word, and occurs in MSS. Cp. Pt. Ln.; and, though these MSS. are not the best ones, it is clear that _to-bete_ is the original reading, or it would not appear. To scan the line, slur over _-ius_ in _Almachius_, and accent _dide_.

406. _whippe of leed_, i. e. a whip furnished with leaden plummets. Lat. 'eum plumbatis tamdiu caedi fecit,' &c.; French text--'il le fist tant batre de plombees,' &c.; Caxton--'he dyd do bete hym with plomettes of leed.'

413. _encense_, offer incense to; see note to l. 395.

414. _they._ Over this word is written in MS. E.--'scilicet Ministres.' The Latin original says that Cecilia converted as many as 400 persons upon this occasion. Hence the expression _o voys_ (one voice) in l. 420.

417. _withouten difference_, i. e. without difference in might, majesty, or glory.

430. _lewedly_, ignorantly. The 'two answers' relate to her rank and her religion, subjects which had no real connexion.

434. Lat. 'de conscientia bona et fide non ficta'; cf. 1 Tim. i. 5.

437. _to drede_, to be feared; the gerund, and right according to the old idiom. We still say--'he is _to blame_,' 'this house _to let_.' March in his Anglo-Saxon Grammar, p. 198, says--'The gerund after the copula expresses what _must_, _may_, or _should_ be done. Ex. _Mannes sunu is t[=o] syllanne_, the Son of Man must be delivered up, Matt. xvii. 22'; &c.

439.

'For it nis bote a bladre i-blowe ful of a wreche wynde; Be it with a litel prikke i-priked, a-wey it shrinketh al';-- South-E. Legendary, l. 194.

[413]

442. _bigonne_, didst begin; the right form, for which Tyrwhitt has _begonnest_. For the Mid. Eng. _biginnen_ we commonly find _onginnan_ in Anglo-Saxon, and the past tense runs thus--_ongann_, _ongunne_, _ongann_; pl. _ongunnon_. The form in Middle English is--_bigan_, _bigunne_ (or _bigonne_), _bigan_; pl. _bigunnen_ (or _bigonne_). The very form here used occurs in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, ed. Morris, p. 71. The suffix _-st_ does not appear in _strong_ verbs; cf. _Thou sawe_, B. 848; _thou bar_, G. 48.

The whole of ll. 443-467 varies considerably from the original, the corresponding passage of which is as follows: 'Cui Almachius: "ab iniuriis caepisti, et in iniuriis perseueras." Caecilia respondit: "iniuria non dicitur quod uerbis fallentibus irrogatur; unde aut iniuriam doce, si falsa locuta sum, aut te ipsum corripe calumniam inferentem, sed nos scientes sanctum Dei nomen omnino negare non possumus; melius est enim feliciter mori quam infeliciter uiuere." Cui Almachius: "ad quid cum tanta superbia loqueris?" Et illa: "non est superbia, sed constantia." Cui Almachius: "infelix, ignoras,"' &c. (l. 468). However, Chaucer has adopted an idea from this in ll. 473, 475.

463. To scan this, remember that _Iuge_ has two syllables; and accent _confus_ on the first syllable.

485. Lat. 'es igitur minister mortis, non uitae.'

487. _Do wey_, do away with; Lat. 'depone.' The phrase occurs again in the Milleres Tale, A. 3287.

489-497. These lines are wholly Chaucer's own.

490. To scan the line, elide _e_ in _suffre_, and read _phílosóphre_.

492. _spekest_; to be read as _spek'st_.

498. _utter yen_, outer eyes, bodily eyes. In MS. E. it is glossed by 'exterioribus oculis.' The Latin has--'nescio ubi oculos amiseris; nam quos tu Deos dicis, omnes nos saxa esse uidemus; mitte igitur manum et tangendo disce, quod oculis non uales uidere.'

503. _taste_, test, try; Lat. 'tangendo disce.' The word is now restricted to _one_ of the five senses; it could once have been used also of the sense of feeling, at the least. Bottom even ventures on the strange expression--'I trust to _taste_ of truest Thisbe's _sight_'; Mid. Nt. Dream, v. 1. 280; such is the reading in the first folio.

505-511. This stanza is all Chaucer's own.

515. _bath of flambes rede_; Lat. 'in bulliente balneo.'

516-522. The Latin merely has--'Quae quasi in loco frigido permansit, nec modicum saltem sudoris persensit.'

533. Lat. 'eam semiuiuam cruentus carnifex dereliquit.'

534. _is went_, though only in the (excellent) Cambridge MS., is the right reading; the rest have _he wente_, sometimes misspelt _he went_. In the first place, _is went_ is a common phrase in Chaucer; cf. German _er ist gegangen_, and Eng. _he is gone_. But secondly, the false rime detects the blunder at once; Chaucer does not rime the weak past tense _wentë_ with a past participle like _yhent_. This was obvious to me at the first glance, but the matter was made sure by consulting Mr. Cromie's excellent 'Ryme-Index.' This at once gives the examples _is went_, [414] riming with pp. _to-rent_, E. 1012 (Clerkes Tale); _is went_, riming with _instrument_, F. 567 (Sq. Tale); _is went_, riming with _innocent_, B. 1730, and _ben went_, riming with _pavement_, B. 1869 (Prioresses Tale). Besides this, there are two more examples, viz. _be they went_, riming with _sacrement_, E. 1701; and _that he be went_, riming with _sent_, A. 3665. On the other hand, we find _wente_, _sente_, _hente_, and _to-rente_, all (weak) past tenses, and all riming together, in the Monkes Tale, B. 3446. The student should particularly observe an instance like this. The rules of rime in Chaucer are, on the whole, so carefully observed that, when once they are learnt, a false rime jars upon the ear with such discord as to be unpleasantly remarkable, and should be at once detected.

535-536. These two lines are not in the original.

539. 'She began to preach to them whom she had fostered,' i. e. converted. To _foster_ is here to nurse, to bring up, to educate in the faith; see l. 122 above. The Latin text has--'omnes quos ad fidem conuerterat, Urbano episcopo commendauit.' Tyrwhitt makes nonsense of this line by placing the comma after _hem_ instead of after _fostred_, and other editors have followed him. In MSS. E. and Hn. the metrical pause is rightly marked as occurring after _fostred_. The story here closely resembles the end of the Prioresses Tale, B. 1801-1855.

545. _do werche_, cause to be constructed.

549. Lat. 'inter episcopos sepeliuit.'

550. 'It is now a church in Rome, and gives a title to a cardinal'; note in Bell's edition. In a poem called the Stacyons of Rome, ed. Furnivall, l. 832, we are told that 100 years' pardon may be obtained by going to St. Cecilia's church. Mr. W. M. Rossetti, in a note on this line, says--'The Church of St. Cecilia, at the end of the Trastevere, near the Quay of Ripa Grande, was built on the site of the saint's own house in 230; rebuilt by pope Paschal I. in 821, and dedicated to God and Sts. Mary, Peter, Paul, and Cecilia; and altered to its present form in 1599 and 1725. In the former of these years, 1599, the body of the saint was found on the spot, with a contemporary inscription identifying her: the celebrated statue by Stefano Maderno, now in the church, represents her in the attitude she was discovered lying in.'

553. After this line the Latin adds--'Passa est autem circa annos domini CC et XXIII, tempore Alexandri imperatoris. Alibi autem legitur, quod passa sit tempore Marci Aurelii, qui imperauit circa annos domini XXCC.' The confusion of names here is easily explained. Marcus Aurelius died in 180; but Marcus Aurelius Alexander Severus (for such was his title in full) reigned from 222 to 235. The true date is generally considered to be 230, falling within his reign, as it should do.

THE CANON'S YEOMAN'S PROLOGUE.

554. _the lyf of seint Cecyle_, i. e. the Second Nun's Tale. This notice is important, because it inseparably links the Canon's Yeoman's Tale to the preceding one. [415]

555. _fyve myle_, five miles. Tyrwhitt says that it is five miles 'from _some place_, which we are now unable to determine with certainty.' He adds that he is in doubt whether the pilgrims are here supposed to be riding _from_ or _towards_ Canterbury; but afterwards thinks that 'the manner in which the Yeman expresses himself in ver. 16091, 2 [i. e. ll. 623, 624] seems to shew that he was riding _to_ Canterbury.'

It is really very easy to explain the matter, and to tell all about it. It is perfectly clear that these two lines express the fact that they were riding _to_ Canterbury. It is even probable that _every one_ of the extant Tales refers to the outward journey: for Chaucer would naturally write his first set of Tales before beginning a second, and the extant Tales are insufficient to make even the first set complete. Consequently, we have only to reckon backwards from Boughton (see l. 556) for a five-mile distance along the _old_ Canterbury road, and we shall find the name of the place intended.

The answer to this is--Ospringe. The matter is settled by the discovery that Ospringe was, as a matter of fact, one of the halting-places for the night of travellers from London to Canterbury. Dean Stanley, in his Historical Memorials of Canterbury, p. 237, quotes from a paper in the Archæologia, xxxv. 461, by Mr. E. A. Bond, to shew that queen Isabella, wife of Edw. II., rested in London on June 6, 1358; at Dartford on the 7th; at Rochester on the 8th; at _Ospringe_ on the 9th; and at Canterbury on the 10th and 11th; and returned, on the 12th, to _Ospringe again_. See this, more at length, in Dr. Furnivall's Temporary Preface to the Canterbury Tales (Chaucer Soc.), pp. 13, 14.

Dr. Furnivall quotes again from M. Douet-d'Arcq, concerning a journey made by king John of France from London to Dover, by way of Canterbury, in 1360. On June 30, 1360, king John left London and came to Eltham. On July 1, he slept at Dartford; on July 2, at Rochester; on July 3, he dined at Sittingbourne (noted as being thirty-nine miles and three-quarters from London), and slept at _Ospringe_; and on July 4, came to Canterbury (noted as being fifty-four miles and a half from London).

These extracts clearly shew (1) that the whole journey was usually made to occupy three or four days; (2) that the usual resting-places were (at least) Dartford, Rochester, and Ospringe; and (3) that Sittingbourne was considered as being about fifteen miles from Canterbury.

Now, in passing from Sittingbourne to Canterbury, we find that the distance is divided into three very nearly equal parts by the situations of Ospringe and Boughton, giving five miles for each portion. The distance from Ospringe to Canterbury, only ten miles, left very little to be done on the last day; but pilgrims liked arriving at Canterbury in good time. Chaucer says, as plainly as possible, that the pilgrims really _did_ rest all night on the road, at a place which can only be Ospringe; see ll. 588, 589.

Mr. Furnivall also notes (Temp. Pref. p. 29), that Lydgate, in his [416] Storie of Thebes (in Speght's Chaucer, 1602, fol. 353 back, col. 2) makes the pilgrims, on their homeward-journey, return from Canterbury to Ospringe to dinner.

556. _Boghton-under-Blee._ Here _Blee_ is the same as _the blee_ in Group H, l. 3, which see. It is now called Blean Forest, and the village is called Boughton-under-Blean, in order to distinguish it from other villages of the same name. I find, in a map, Boughton Aluph between Canterbury and Ashford, Boughton Malherb between Ashford and Maidstone, and Boughton Monchelsea between Maidstone and Staplehurst.

557. _A man_, i. e. the Canon. This is an additional pilgrim, not described in the Prologue, and therefore described here in ll. 566-581, 600-655, &c.

'The name of Canon, as applied to an officer in the Church, is derived from the Gk. [Greek: kanôn] (_kanôn_) signifying a rule or measure, and also the roll or catalogue of the Church, in which the names of the Ecclesiastics were registered; hence the clergy so registered were denominated Canonici or Canons. Before the Reformation, they were divided into two classes, Regular and Secular. The Secular were so called, because they canonized _in saeculo_, abroad in the world. Regular Canons were such as lived under a rule, that is, a code of laws published by the founder of that order. They were a less strict sort of religious than the monks, but lived together under one roof, had a common dormitory and refectory, and were obliged to observe the statutes of their order. The chief rule for these [regular] canons is that of St. Augustine, who was made bishop of Hippo in the year 395.... Their habit was a long black cassock with a white rochet over it, and over that a black coat and hood; from whence they were called _Black_ Canons Regular of St. Augustine.'--Hook's Church Dictionary. And see _Canon_ in the New E. Dictionary.

There were several other orders, such as the Gilbertine Canons of Sempringham in Lincolnshire, the Praemonstratenses or _White_ Canons, &c. See also the description of them in Cutts's Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages, p. 19; and see Rock, Church of our Fathers, ii. 79, 84. At the latter reference, Dr. Rock says:--'Some families of canons regular still require their members, whenever they go out of the house, to wear over their cassock _a linen surplice_, and above that a large, full, black canon's _cope_.'

I should imagine, from the description of the Canon's house in l. 657, and from the general tenor of the Tale, that Chaucer's Canon was but a secular one. Still, their rule seems to have been less strict than that of the monks.

558. I have omitted to note that E. has _wered a_, where all the other MSS. read _hadde a whyt_.

561. _priked myles three_, ridden hard for three miles. The Canon and his yeoman may be supposed to have ridden rather fast for the first two miles; and then, finding they could not otherwise overtake [417] the pilgrims, they took to the best pace they could force out of their horses for three miles more.

562. _yeman_, yeoman, attendant, servant. His face was all discoloured with blowing his master's fire (ll. 664-667), and he seems to have been the more honest man of the two. He is the teller of the Tale, and begins by describing himself; l. 720.

565. 'He was all spotted with foam, so that he looked like a magpie.' The word _He_ (like _his_ in l. 566) refers to the Canon, whose clothing was _black_ (l. 557); and the white spots of foam upon it gave him this appearance. The horse is denoted by _it_ (l. 563), the word _hors_ being neuter in the Oldest English. Most MSS. read _he_ for _it_ in l. 563, but there is nothing gained by it. _Flecked_, in the sense of 'spotted,' is still in use; see N. and Q. 7 S. i. 507, ii. 96.

566. _male tweyfold_, a double budget or leathern bag; see Prol. l. 694.

571. Chaucer tells us that the Pardoner's hood, on the contrary, was _not_ fastened to his cloak; see Prol. 680. Dr. Rock, in The Church of our Fathers, ii. 44, says:--'Sometimes the hood of the cope was not only sewed to it, but stitched all round, and not allowed to hang with the lower part free; in such instances, the hood was necessarily left on the cope and folded with it.'

575. 'Rather faster than at a trot or a foot-pace.' Said ironically. Cf. Prol. 825.

577. _clote-leef_, the leaf of a burdock. Cotgrave has--'_Lampourde_, f. the _Cloot_ or great Burre.' Also--'_Glouteron_, m. The _Clote_, Burre Docke, or great Burre.' And again--'_Bardane_, f. the _Clote_, burre-dock, or great Burre.'

In the Prompt. Parv. we find--'_Clote_, herbe; Lappa bardana, lappa rotunda.' In Wyclif's Version of the Bible, Hosea ix. 6, x. 8, we find _clote_ or _cloote_ where the Vulgate version has _lappa_. The Glossary to Cockayne's 'Leechdoms' explains A. S. _cl[=a]te_ as _Arctium lappa_, with numerous references. The A. S. _cl[=a]te_ is related to G. _Klette_, a bur, a burdock; O. H. G. _chletta_; Mid. Du. _kladde_.

It is clear that _clote_ originally meant the bur _itself_, just as the name of _bur-dock_ has reference to the same. The _clote_ is, accordingly, the _Arctium lappa_, or Common Burdock, obtaining its name from the _clotes_ (i. e. burs or knobs) upon it; and one of the large leaves of this plant would be very suitable for the purpose indicated.

We may safely dismiss the suggestion in Halliwell's Dictionary, founded on a passage in Gerarde's Herball, p. 674 D, that the _Clote_ here means the yellow water-lily. We know from Cockayne's 'Leechdoms' that the name _cl[=a]te s[=e]o þe swimman wille_ (i. e. swimming clote) was sometimes used for that flower (_Nuphar lutea_), either on account of its large round leaves or its globose flowers; but in the present passage we have only to remember the Canon's haste to feel assured, that he might much more easily have caught up a burdock-leaf from the road-side than have searched in a ditch for a water-lily. [418]

578. _For swoot_, to prevent sweat, to keep off the heat. See note to Sir Thopas, B. 2052.

580. It is probable that _stillatorie_ (now shortened to _still_) is really a shortened form of _distillatorie_. Both forms occur in the Book of Quintessence, p. 10, l. 24, p. 13, l. 10.

581. _Were ful_, that might be full, that might chance to be full. _Were_ is the subjunctive, and the relative is omitted.

588. _now_, &c.; lately, in the time of early morning.

589. This shews that the pilgrims had rested all night on the road; see note to l. 555 above.

597. _oght_, in any way, at all. Cf. Kn. Ta., A. 3045; and Prioresses Tale, B. 1792.

599. _ye_, yea. There is a difference between _ye_, yea, and _yis_, yes. The former merely assents, or answers a simple question in the affirmative. The latter is much more forcible, is used when the question involves a negative, and is often followed by an oath. See note to Specimens of Eng. 1394-1579, ed. Skeat, sect. xvii. (D), l. 22; and note to _[gh]is_ in the Glossary to my edition of William of Palerne. See an example of _[gh]us_ (yes) after a negative in Piers the Plowman, B. v. 125. Similarly, _nay_ is the weaker, _no_ the stronger form of negation.

602. A note in Bell's edition makes a difficulty of the scansion of this line. It is perfectly easy. The caesura (carefully _marked_ in MS. E. as occurring after _knewe_) preserves the final _e_ in _knewe_ from elision.

And yé | him knéw | e, ás | wel ás | do I ||

Tyrwhitt reads _also_ for the former _as_; which is legitimate, because _as_ and _also_ are merely different spellings of the same word.

It is true that the final _e_ in _wondre_, and again that in _werke_, are both elided, under similar circumstances, in the two lines next following; but the cases are not quite identical. The _e_ in _knewe_, representing not merely the plural, but also the subjunctive mood, is essential to the conditional form of the sentence, and is of much higher value than the others. If this argument be not allowed, Tyrwhitt's suggestion may be adopted. Or we may read _knewen_.

608. _rit_, contracted from _rideth_; see A. 974, 981. See also _slit_ for _slideth_ in l. 682 below.

611. _leye in balaunce_, place in the balance, weigh against it.

620. _can_, knows, knows how to exercise.

622. The Yeoman puts in a word for himself--'and moreover, I am of some assistance to him.'

625. _up-so-doun_, i. e. upside doun, according to our modern phrase. Chaucer's phrase is very common; see Pricke of Conscience, ed. Morris, l. 7230; P. Plowman, B. xx. 53; Gower, Conf. Amantis, i. 218, &c.

628. _benedicite_, pronounced _ben'cite_, in three syllables, as in B. 1170, 1974. See note to B. 1170.

632. _worship_, dignity, honour; here, respectable appearance.

633. _oversloppe_, upper garment. So in Icelandic, _yfirsloppr_ means [419] an outer gown; as, 'prestar skrýddir yfirsloppum,' i. e. priests clad in over-slops, Historia Ecclesiastica, i. 473. The word _slop_ is preserved in the somewhat vulgar '_slop_-shop,' i. e. shop for second-hand clothes.

635. _baudy_, dirty. _to-tore_, torn in half. So in Piers Plowman, B. v. 197, Avarice is described as wearing a 'tabard' which is 'al to-torn and baudy.'

639. The second person sing. imperative seldom exhibits a final _e_; but it is sometimes found in weak verbs, _tellen_ being one of them. The readings are--_Telle_, E. Cp. Pt. Hl.; _Tel_, Ln. Cm. Elsewhere, we find _tel_, as in D. 1298.

641. _for_, &c.; because he shall never thrive. The Yeoman blurts out the truth, and is then afraid he has said too much. In l. 644, he gives an evasive and politer reason, declaring that his lord is 'too wise'; see l. 648.

645. _That that_, that which. In the margin of MS. E. is written--'Omne quod est nimium, &c.'; which is probably short for--'Omne quod est nimium uertitur in uitium.' We also find--'Omne nimium nocet.' The corresponding English proverb is--'Too much of one thing is not good' (Heywood); on which Ray remarks--'Assez y a si trop n'y a; _French_. Ne quid nimis; _Terentius_. [Greek: Mêden agan.] This is an apothegm of one of the seven wise men; some attribute it to Thales, some to Solon. Est modus in rebus, sunt certi denique fines; _Horat._ Sat. i. 1. 106. L'abbondanza delle cose ingenera fastidio; _Ital._ Cada dia olla, amargo el caldo; _Spanish_.' We also find in Hazlitt's English Proverbs--'Too much cunning undoes.'--'Too much is stark nought.'--'Too much of a good thing.'--'Too much spoileth, too little is nothing.' See also the collection of similar proverbs in Ida v. Düringsfeld's Sprichwörter, i. 37, 38.

648. Cf. Butler's description of Hudibras:--

'We grant, although he had much wit, He was very shy of using it.'

652. _Ther-of no fors_, never mind about that.

655. The adj. _sly_ here appears in the indefinite form, and rimes with _hertely_; correctly. Lounsbury (Studies, i. 388) admits the fact, but immediately proceeds to rate Chaucer for using the form _dry-e_ (dissyllabic) as an indefinite form! The attack, being founded on an error, ignominiously fails. It so happens that _sly_ is, etymologically, a monosyllable, whilst _drye_ is etymologically dissyllabic; see _sleh_ and _druye_ in Stratmann.

658. A _blind lane_ is one that has no opening at the farther end; a _cul de sac_.

659. _theves by kinde_, thieves by natural disposition.

662. _the sothe_, the truth. The reader should carefully note the full pronunciation of the final _e_ in _sothe_. If he should omit to sound it, he will be put to shame when he comes to the end of the next line, ending with _tó thee_. A very similar instance is that of _tyme_, riming with _bý me_, G. 1204 below. The case is the more remarkable because [420] the A. S. _s[=o]ð_, truth, is a monosyllable; but the truth is that the definite adjective _the sothe_ (A. S. _þæt s[=o]ðe_) may very well have supplied its place, the adjective being more freely used than the substantive in this instance. Chaucer has _sothe_ at the end of a line in other places, where it rimes with the dissyllabic _bothe_; G. 168; Troil. iv. 1035.

We may remark that _the sothe_ is written and pronounced instead of _the sooth_ (as shewn by the metre) in the Story of Genesis and Exodus, ed. Morris, l. 74:--

'He [_they_] witen the sothe, that is sen.'

665. _Peter!_ by St. Peter; as in B. 1404, D. 446. The full form of the phrase--'bi seynt Peter of Rome'--occurs in Piers the Plowman, B. vi. 3. The shorter exclamation--'Peter!' also occurs in the same, B. v. 544; see my note on that line. _harde grace_, disfavour, ill-favour; a mild imprecation. In l. 1189, it expresses a mild malediction.

669. _multiplye._ This was the technical term employed by alchemists to denote their supposed power of transmuting the baser metals into gold; they thought to _multiply_ gold by turning as much base metal as a piece of it would buy into gold itself; see l. 677. Some such pun seems here intended; yet it is proper to remember that the term originally referred solely to the supposed fact, that the strength of an elixir could be multiplied by repeated operations. See the article 'De Multiplicatione,' in Theatrum Chemicum, iii. 301, 818; cf. 131. Cf. Ben Jonson's Alchemist, ii. 1:--

'For look, how oft I iterate the work, So many times I add unto his virtue'; &c.

686. To scan the line, accent _yeman_ on the latter syllable, as in ll. 684, 701.

687. To scan the line, pronounce _ever_ nearly as _e'er_, and remember that _hadde_ is of two syllables. The MSS. agree here.

688. _Catoun_, Cato. Dionysius Cato is the name commonly assigned to the author of a Latin work in four books, entitled Dionysii Catonis Disticha de Moribus ad Filium. The work may be referred to the fourth century. It was extremely popular, not only in Latin, but in French and English versions. Chaucer here quotes from Lib. i. Distich. 17:--

'Ne cures si quis tacito sermone loquatur; Conscius ipse sibi de se putat omnia dici.'

See other quotations from Cato in the Nonne Preestes Tale, B. 4130; Merch. Ta., E. 1377; and see my note to Piers Plowman, B. vi. 316.

It is worth noticing that _Catoun_ follows the form of the Lat. _Catonem_, the accusative case. Such is the usual rule.

694. _dere abye_, pay dearly for it. _abye_ (lit. to buy off) was corrupted at a later date to _abide_, as in Shak. Jul. Caesar, iii. 1. 94.

703. _game_, amusement. In l. 708, it is used ironically. Cf. _ernest_, i. e. a serious matter, in l. 710. Cf. The Alchemist, ii. 1:--

'Alchemy is a pretty kind of game,' &c.

[421]

THE CHANOUNS YEMANNES TALE.

720. This Tale is divided, in MS. E., into two parts. _Pars prima_ is not really a tale at all, but a description of alchemy and its professors. The real tale, founded on the same subject, is contained in _Pars Secunda_, beginning at l. 972. The rubric means--'Here the Canon's Yeoman begins his tale.' The word _tale_ is not to be taken as a nominative case.

I may observe that I frequently refer below to the Theatrum Chemicum, printed in 1659, in five volumes. Also to Ashmole's Theatrum Chemicum (quite a different work).

721. _neer_, nearer; this explains _near_ in Macbeth, ii. 3. 146.

724. _Ther_, where; observe the use. In l. 727, we have _wher_.

726. _hose_, an old hose, instead of a hood. A pair of hose meant what we should now call a pair of tight-fitting drawers, which also covered the feet.

730. 'And, in return for all my labour, I am cajoled.' To '_blere_ one's eye' is to cajole, to deceive, to hoodwink. See Piers the Plowman, B. prol. 74, and the note.

731. _which_, what sort of a; Lat. _qualis_. On _multiplye_, see note to l. 669.

739. 'I consider his prosperity as done with.'

743. _Iupartye_, jeopardy, hazard. Tyrwhitt remarks that the derivation is not from _jeu perdu_, as some have guessed, but from _jeu parti_. He adds--'A _jeu parti_ is properly a game, in which the chances are exactly even; see Froissart, v. i. c. 234--"Ils n'estoient pas à _jeu parti_ contre les François"; and v. ii. c. 9--"si nous les voyons à _jeu parti_." From hence it signifies anything uncertain or hazardous. In the old French poetry, the discussion of a problem, where much might be said on both sides, was called a _Jeu parti_. See Poésies du Roy de Navarre, Chanson xlviii., and _Gloss._ in v. See also Ducange, in v. _Jocus Partitus_.' Ducange has--'_Jocus partitus_ dicebatur, cum alicui facultas concedebatur, alterum e duobus propositis eligendi.' Hence was formed not only _jeopardy_, but even the verb to _jeopard_, used in the A. V., Judges v. 18; 2 Macc. xi. 7.

746. In the margin of MS. E. is written--'Solacium miseriorum (_sic_), &c.' In Marlowe's Faustus, ii. 1. 42, the proverb is quoted in the form 'Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris.' Dr. Wagner says: 'The purport of this line may have been originally derived from Seneca, De Consol. ad Polybium,