NOTES Figures in bold face refer to the page, others to the line. CHAUCER THE PROLOGUE 1. 1. Whan that Aprille, etc. When April with its sweet showers hath pierced the drought of March to the root, and bathed every vein in the moisture by means of which power the flower is grown. 8. The Ram. The expression means: "When the sun had completed the halfcourse in the zodiacal sign of the Ram." During the first half of April the sun is in Aries, the Ram; during the second, in Taurus, the Bull. The time is therefore about the middle of April. 53-65. Pruce-Palatye. The proper names are those of various countries and cities in the regions involved in the wars between the Christian nations of western Europe and their Moslem enemies. Pruce, Lettow, Ruce-Prussia, Lithuania, Russia. Gernade, Algezir-Granada, Algeciras, in Spain. Belmarye, Tramissene-Moorish kingdoms in Africa. Lyeys, Satalye, Palatye-in Asia Minor. 2. 125. The scole of Stratford atte Bowe. A Benedictine convent at Stratford-le-Bow, near London. There is no slur here on the Prioress's French; Chaucer merely tells us that her pronunciation was not Parisian. 3. 159. Gauded. Furnished with gaudies," the five large beads in a rosary. 173. Seint Maure. St. Maur and St. Benedict. The latter founded the Benedictine order of monks; St. Maur was one of his disciples. 187. Austin. St. Augustine. 210. Ordres four. The Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, and Augustinians. 4. 258. Love-dayes. Certain days which were appointed for settling disputes out of court, through the mediation of an umpire, often a friar. 310. Parvys. "The church-porch, or portico of St. Paul's, where the lawyers were wont to meet for consultation." (Skeat). 319. Al was fee simple. No matter how encumbered property might be, the Sergeant could handle it as if it were held in fee simple. His conveyancing could not be attacked. 5. 340. Seynt Iulian. Saint Julian was famed for his generous providing. 364. Fraternitee. They all belonged to one guild. 5. 377. Vigilyës. Ceremonies on the eve of a church or guild festival. 6. 417-420. Well coude he fortunen, etc. The doctor was an astrologer; in addition, he was familiar with the humors of the body, and knew the causes of all diseases. In every person, according to the Galenic physiology, there were four humors, viz.: blood, phlegm, bile or choler, and black bile or melancholy. A person's health depended upon maintaining a proper proportion between the four. Thus if blood predominated, the person became too sanguine; if phlegm, he became too phlegmatic. It 429. Esculapius, etc. These were the 7. 507. He sette nat his benefice. He did 8. 624. Fyr-reed cherubinnes face. Cherubim, in medieval art, were painted with red faces. 646. Questio quid iuris? What is the law? 652. A finch eek coude he pulle. In the idiom of Wall Street, he knew how to shear a lamb. (Skeat). 9. 662. War him of a significavit. The writ of excommunication, which usually began with the word Significavit. 667. For an ale-stake. Ale-houses were usually marked by a pole, ale-stake, on which was hung a garland. 685. A vernicle. A copy of the picture of Christ supposed to have been miraculously imprinted on the handkerchief of St. Veronica. 11. 826. The watering of seint Thomas. The watering place was at a brook a short distance out from Southwark. THE NUN'S PRIEST'S TALE 24. She fond no lak. She found no fault. 35. By nature knew he ech ascensioun. This is one of the many passages in which Chaucer uses the language of astronomy for telling time. The meaning is that the cock crew each hour, when the sun had risen fifteen degrees higher. 12. 59. My lief is faren in londe. My loved one has gone away. 103. Swevenes engendren, etc. See note on Prol., 1. 417. 13. 120. Lo Catoun. Dionysius Cato, to whom was ascribed a collection of maxims, De Moribus, used in Chaucer's time as a text-book for beginners in Latin. 143. Lauriol, centaure, etc. For an explanation of these botanical names see the Oxford Chaucer, v. 252. 15. 3c3. Macrobeus. Latin writer of the fifth century, annotator of Cicero's Somnium Scipionis. 16. 367. The month in which the world bi gan. There was an old notion that the creation took place on the eighteenth of March. 369. Y-passed were also, etc. When March was gone, and thirty-two days more; i. e., when it was the third of May. 374. The signe of Taurus. The sun was in the zodiacal sign, or constellation, of Taurus, and had passed the twenty-first degree. 407. Genilon. The traitor who caused the death of Roland, in the Chanson de Roland. Sinon persuaded the Trojans to admit the wooden horse. 421. Augustyn . . . Boece... Bradwardyn. Famous ecclesiastical writers, St. Augustine, Boethius, and Thomas Bradwardine, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1349. 17. 451. Phisiologus. A work on natural history, in Latin, well known to the Middle Ages. 473. Boece. Boethius (see 1. 421) was also author of a treatise on music. 492. Daun Burnel the Asse. A satirical poem of the twelfth century, by Nigel Wireker. 18. 527. O Gaufred. Geoffrey de Vinsauf, who wrote verses lamenting the death of Richard I. 536. Ilioun. The citadel of Troy. THE PARDONER'S TALE 22. 406. Chaunge my cheste. "The old man is ready to exchange his chest, containing all his worldly gear, for a single hair-cloth, to be used as his shroud." (Skeat). 24. 561. Avicen. Avicenna, an Arabian physician, wrote as his chief work a medical treatise known as the Canon. The subdivisions are in Arabic called fen. BALADE DE BON CONSEYL 25. 2. Suffyce unto thy good. Let thy wealth be sufficient unto thee. 9. In trust of hir. Fortune. 22. Thou Vache. Sir Philip la Vache, to THE COMPLAINT OF CHAUCER 26. 22. Conquerour of Brutes Albioun. King Henry IV, who came to the throne in 1399 through the deposition of Richard II. Brutes Albioun-the Albion, or England, of Brutus, a legendary descendant of Aeneas, who first reigned in the island. PIERS THE PLOWMAN 26. Of this poem, which until lately has been accepted as the work of William Langland, there are several versions, the work of different men, and produced at different times during the last forty years of the fourteenth century. The earliest, or so-called A-text, was written about 1365, and was the basis of subsequent revisions. The question of authorship has been argued at great length by Professor John M. Manly, and others, in Modern Philology; and though uncertainties still exist, it is hardly to be questioned that several people had a share in the work, and that the traditional ascription to Langland is erroneous. 27. 39. Qui loquitur, etc. He who speaks evil. 55. Al the foure ordres. The mendicant friars were the Carmelites, or white friars; the Augustinians; the Dominicans, or black friars; and the Minorites, or grey friars. NOAH'S FLOOD The play is taken from the Chester miracle cycle. The text here followed is that of Harleian MS. 2124, edited by Dr. Hermann Deimling for the Early English Text Society (Extra Series, Ixii). The text has been modernized, except that rhyme-words and the original word order have been preserved. Stage directions have been translated from the original Latin. Waterleaders and Drawers of Dee. Members of the gild of water-carriers, who presented the play. The River Dee flows through Chester. LE MORTE DARTHUR: PREFACE 44. William Caxton. Caxton (c. 1422-1491), the first English printer. The first book to be printed in English was issued at Bruges in 1474; two years later Caxton set up his press in Westminster. The Morte Darthur was published in 1485. 37. Stalled. Installed. 72. Aretted. Considered to be. 76. Polichronicon. A history of the world, and encyclopædia of universal knowledge, by Ranulph Higden_(d. 1364). 82. Bochas. Boccaccio. De Casu, etc: Concerning the Fall of Great Men. 84. Galfridus. Geoffrey of Monmouth, author of the Historia Regum Britanniae, (c. 1136), the most famous of all AngloLatin chronicles. 134. Enprised to imprint. to print. CHAPTER IV King Arthur has been on the continent; during his absence Mordred, his nephew, has treasonously seized the throne, and attempted to marry Guinevere. A first battle at Dover has been won by Arthur, returning to his kingdom; the two armies are now drawn up for the decisive conflict. 1. Condescended. Agreed. 9. And. If. 46. 44. Put him in devoir. Did his utmost. 94. Ran until him. Ran unto him. 97. Foin. Thrust. IOI. The bur. The guard near the butt of the spear. 118. Do me to wit. Tell me. 123. Pillers. 48. 17. Besants. tinople. Pillagers. CHAPTER VI Gold coins of Constan CHAPTER VII 10. Hic jacet, etc. Here lies Arthur, formerly king, and to be king in the future. SPENSER THE FAERIE QUEENE: LETTER TO RALEIGH 49. This letter was prefixed to the first edition, which appeared in 1590 and contained the first three books of the poem. 47. These first twelve books. Of the twelve books projected Spenser completed six, and three cantos of a seventh. 60. Accounted by their showes. Judged by their appearances. BOOK I, CANTO I In reading Spenser's verse, a final -ed should always be given syllabic value. Book I narrates the adventures of the Knight of Holiness. 51. 20. Gloriana. Standing in the allegory for Queen Elizabeth. 28. Lovely ladie. Una, the personification of Truth. 52. 79. Warlike beech. Lances were frequently of beech wood. 53. 127-234. The passage omitted gives an account of the Knight's combat with the foul monster Error, and of his ultimate triumph. 54. 253. Aged sire. Archimago, the enchanter, represents hypocrisy or false religion. 55. 314. Saintes and popes. In accordance with the purpose of the allegory, Archimago is made a Catholic. 55. 318. Morpheus. God of sleep. 328. Blacke Plutoes griesly dame. Pro- 332. Gorgon. Demogorgon, one of the 352. Double gates. According to clas- 361f. Note in this stanza the skilful suggestion of sense by sound. 56. 376. Dryer braine. Brain too dry or feverish. It was supposed that lack of moisture in the brain was the cause of fitful, dream-broken sleep. Stanza XLV. Archimago fashions one of his sprites into the likeness of Una, and by the aid of the false dream deceives the Red Cross Knight into believing Una false to him. In Canto II the Knight deserts Una and flees from Archimago's cabin. Meeting on his way a Saracen knight Sansfoy, with a beautiful lady, he kills the knight and takes the lady Duessa (Falsehood, though she is at present going under the name of Fidessa-Faith), as his companion. Una meanwhile has set forth in search of her knight, and has lost her way in a wood. CANTO XI 57. In the interval between the third and eleventh cantos Una and the Red Cross Knight, who had been parted from each other by Archimago, and forced to undergo many hardships, are reunited by Arthur, who rescues the Knight from the castle of the giant Orgoglio. After this deliverance Una leads the Knight to the house of Holiness, where he is purged of his sin, learns his lineage, and his name, George: "Thou. Shalt be a saint, and thine own nation's frend And patrone: thou Saint George shalt called be, Saint George of mery England, the signe of victoree." (I. x. 66). Then follows the struggle between George and the dragon (the devil), occupying the entire eleventh canto, which is here reprinted without omission. 58. 43. Faire ympe of Phoebus, etc. Clio, muse of History, daughter of Phoebus and Mnemosyne (Memory). 56. Till I of warres, etc. Spenser was apparently planning for his later books or for his second part, some celebration of the war with Philip II. Bryton fieldes together. "Melody of lower .. armes. Man Placed so close 60. 167. Hagard hauke. A wild hawk. 168. Above his hable might. Beyond the limit of his strength. 172. He so disseized, etc. He, the dragon, being thus relieved of his great burden. 61. 186. His neighbour element. The earth. 187. The blustring brethren. Sometimes explained as the winds; possibly refers to both winds and sea, combining against the land. Take ven 189. Each other to avenge. 62. 235. That great champion. Hercules, the ... 278. Above his wonted pitch. than usual. Higher 63. 300. As eagle, fresh out of the ocean wave. Every ten years the eagle mounts to the circle of fire and thence plunges into the ocean, from which it emerges with fresh plumage." (Dodge.) 303. Eyas hauke. Newly fledged hawk. 337. Ne living wight, etc. Nor would any living person have promised him life. 64. 356. Engorged. This is the reading in editions of Spenser, but it makes no good sense; engorged means glutted with. Spenser have intended engored-wounded, hence, aroused, infuriated (?) as in Faerie Queene, II. viii. 42: May As salvage bull, whom two fierce mastives bayt, When rancour doth with rage him once engore." 381. The warlike pledge. The shield. 65. 414. The crime of our first father's fell. The occasion of the crime, etc. 459. Her. Object of salutes. 465. He. The dragon. Himself. The knight. PROTHALAMION 66. The poem was written in honor of the approaching double marriage of the Ladies Elizabeth and Katherine Somerset, daughters of the Earl of Worcester, in 1596. It commemorates a visit made by the ladies, in barges on the river, to Essex House, residence of the Earl of Essex. 6-9. Discontent . . . empty shaddowes. A reference to Spenser's vain effort for political preferment after the publication of the second three books of the Faerie Queene. 67. 67. Somers-heat. Pun on Somerset. 68. 132. Bricky towres. The group of buildings by the Thames called The Temple, formerly headquarters of the Knights Templar, now given over to lawyers. 137. A stately place. Essex House, for- 147. 148. Hercules two pillors. Rocky emi- 152-3. Thine 69. 173. Twins of Jove. Castor and Pollux, the constellation Gemini. 174. Bauldricke. The Zodiac. daring mixture of things celestial with things mundane." (Schelling.) 79. 9. Palmer. Originally a pilgrim who had been to Jerusalem and had brought back a palm-branch as a token; later applied to professional pilgrims, who spent their whole time travelling from one shrine to another. 80. 42. Angels. A pun on the use of the word as the name of a coin. THE CONCLUSION Found in Raleigh's Bible after his death; said to have been written the night before his execution. SOUTHWELL: THE BURNING BABE Drummond of Hawthornden in his notes records that Ben Jonson said that “ so he had written that piece of his (Southwell's), The Burning Babe, he would have been content to destroy many of his." SHAKESPEARE: HARK, HARK! THE LARK 82. Compare the second of Lyly's songs, p. 77. FEAR NO MORE Dirge sung over the body of the supposedly dead Imogen, disguised as a boy, Fidele. CAMPION: WHEN THOU MUST HOME 83. Bullen (Lyrics from Elizabethan Song Books) remarks that for romantic beauty this can hardly be matched outside the sonnets of Shakespeare. CHERRY-RIPE 84. "Cherry-ripe" was the cry of street venders of cherries. DRAYTON: AGINCOURT 85. The full title runs To the Cambro-Britons and their Harp His Ballad of Agincourt. Cambro-Britons-Welsh, who fought valiantly in the battle. Henry V, invading France to make good his claim to the French throne, in 1415 won the battle of Agincourt from a French army four times as numerous as his own. 41. Poitiers, Cressy. Like Agincourt, battles of the Hundred Years' War, fought in 1356 and 1346 respectively, and like Agincourt, English victories against great odds. 45. Grandsire. John of Gaunt, son of Edward III. 86. 82. Bilbows. Swords; the name comes from Bilboa, a Spanish town famous for the swords it made. 113. St. Crispin's day. October 25. |