Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Booknd the freshness of first love. Chaucer probably refers to some such poem in French, but I cannot point out the exact source. On the other hand, the present passage doubtless suggested the poem called 'The Flower and the Leaf,' a pretty but somewhat tedious poem of the fifteenth century, in which Chaucer's style is imitated with no remarkable exactness or success. This poem was formerly rashly attributed to Chaucer himself without any evidence, though it was printed for the first time as late as 1598. See it discussed in vol. i. p. 44. Gower also refers to the present passage; C. A. iii. 358. In scanning this line, remember to pronounce _Whether_ as _Whe'r_, a monosyllable. This is common also in Shakespeare, as in his 59th Sonnet: '_Whe'r_ we are mended, or _whe'r_ better they.' 74. _Making_, poetry; _ropen_, reaped. 'For I well know, that ye (poets) have long ere this reaped the field of poetry, and carried away the corn from it; and I come after you as a gleaner.' See note to l. 69. Compare Parl. Foules, 22-25. The A.S. _rípan_, to reap, was a strong verb; pt. t. _ráp_, pp. _ripen_. The M.E. forms are various and corrupt, and not very common. In P. Plowman, B. xiii. 374, the pt. t. is _rope_, pl. _ropen_. The proper form of the pp. is _r[)i]pen_; the form _ropen_ is due to that confusion between the past tense and past participle which is so extremely common in English. See Morris, Hist. Outlines of Eng. Accidence, p. 160. 80. _Evel apayd_, ill pleased, displeased; a common phrase. See Cler. Tale, E 1052; Can. Yem. Tale, G 921, 1049. _Apayd_, pleased, occurs in the Kn. Tale, 1010 (A 1868). 85. _Wynt_, windeth, turns (me) about, directs (me). These contracted forms of the third person singular of the present indicative are almost universal in Anglo-Saxon, and very common in M.E. Chaucer has _fynt_ = findeth, _rit_ = rideth, _hit_ = hideth, _et_ = eateth, l. 1389, &c. A much earlier example of _wint_ for _windeth_ is in the Ancren Riwle, p. 296. 86. _In-with_, within. This curious form is not very common in Chaucer. Still it occurs in l. 228 below; in the Prior. Tale, B 1794; Cler. Tale, E 870; March. Tale, E 1944; Troilus, ii. 508, iii. 1499, &c. See Mätzner. 88. _Nothing I_, I am not at all (the master of it). 90. This is a fine simile. His lady sovereign can evoke from him any tone at will. _And maketh_ = and (the hand) makes. Bell puts _That_ for _And_, without authority. 93. _Yow list_, it pleases you. _List_ = _listeth_; cf. note to l. 85. 97. 'But why said I that we should give credence?' See ll. 10, 20. In the A-text (l. 81) _But wherfor_ is used differently, and means--'But the reason why,' &c. 100. _Seen at eye_, see evidently. So in the Can. Yem. Tale, G 1059. Cf. _fair at yë_, fair to the sight, id. G 964; Cler. Tale, E 1168. The promise made in l. 101 was not fulfilled. 103. _Besy gost_, active spirit. _Thrusteth_, thirsteth. 105. _Gledy_, glowing; an adj. formed from _gleed_, a glowing coal. I know of no other example of this word. The compound adj. _gled-read_, glede-red, i.e. red as a glowing coal, occurs in O. Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, i. 249. 108. The first of May was a favourite time for joyful observances. See note to Kn. Tale, A 1500. 109. _Dredful_, timid, timorous; as in Kn. Tale, A 1479. 112. _Agayn_, against, towards, turned towards; as in l. 48. 113. _The beste_, i.e. the Bull, the sign Taurus. _Agenores doghter_ is Europa, daughter of Agenor of Phoenicia, who, according to the fable, was carried off by Jupiter in the form of a bull. Hence Ovid uses the expression 'Agenoreus bos,' Fast. vi. 712; and calls Europa 'Agenore nata,' Met. ii. 858. For the story, see the latter reference. Chaucer here tells us that the Sun, on the 1st of May, was 'in the breast' of Taurus, i.e. in the middle of it. It was, in fact, far advanced in the sign, near the 20th degree. See Fig. 1 in this volume, which shews the back of the Astrolabe. 118. Cf. Book of the Duchesse, 399. 125. Cf. Book of the Duchesse, ll. 410-2, which is a parallel passage. Both passages are borrowed from the Roman de la Rose, 55-58; see vol. i. p. 95. 126. _Mat_, dead; a term borrowed from the game of chess. See Anelida, 176; Book Duch., 660; and Kn. Tale, A 955. 128. _Atempre_, temperate, mild. See Book of the Duch., 341, and the note. This again is from the Rom. de la Rose, 125. _Releved_, raised up again, revived. Cotgrave gives: '_Relevé_, raised, lift, or set up again; relieved, revived, fully restored.' 130. 'In the classical and middle ages small birds were a common article of food, as they are on the continent at the present time; and the season for catching them with a _panter_, or bag-net, was winter, when the scarcity of food made them tame. The poet here represents their songs in the spring, as the expression of their exultation at having baffled the stratagems, quaintly called _sophistries_, by which the fowler had endeavoured to lure them to their destruction.'--BELL. The word _panter_ is curiously preserved in the mod. E. _painter_, a rope for mooring a boat. I quote the following from my Etym. Dict.: '"_Painter_, a rope employed to fasten a boat"; Hawkesworth's Voyages, 1773, vol. i. p. xxix. Corrupted (by assimilation to the ordinary sb. _painter_) from M.E. _panter_, a noose, esp. for catching birds. See Chaucer, Leg. of Good Women, 131; Prompt. Parv., p. 381; spelt _paunter_, Polit. Songs, ed. Wright, p. 344.--O.F. _pantiere_, a kind of snare for birds, Roquefort; _panthiere_, "a great swoop-net"; Cotgrave. Cf. Ital. _pantiera_, "a kind of tramell or fowling net"; Florio; _panthera_, "a net or haie to catch conies with, also a kind of fowling-net"; id.--Lat. _panther_, a hunting-net for catching wild beasts. Cf. _panthera_, an entire capture.--Gk. [Greek: panthêros], catching all; cf. [Greek: panthêra], the whole booty (a very late word).--Gk. [Greek: pan], neut. of [Greek: pas], every; and [Greek: thêr], a wild beast. 'The Irish _painteir_, Gael. _painntear_, a gin, snare, are forms of the same word [but were borrowed from English or French]. It is remarkable that, in America, a _panther_ is also called a _painter_. See Cooper, The Pioneers, cap. xxviii.' 132. _Upon_, against, in scorn of; cf. _in his despyt_, l. 134. _A-whaped_, scared. --A. 127. The A-text is hereabouts very imperfect, and some lines are too short. I supply words within square brackets, in order to fill out the lines, and to make sense. 145. See Parl. of Foules, 309, 683, and the note to the former passage in vol. i. p. 516. Birds were supposed to choose their mates on St. Valentine's day (Feb. 14). 146. _Chees_, chose: the past tense; A.S. _céas_. 154. _Tydif_, the name of some small bird, guessed by Skinner to be the _titmouse_; more probably the _tydy_ mentioned by Drayton, which is supposed to mean a wren. See _Tydy_ in Nares. Cf. Squi. Tale, F 648; id. 610, 611. 158. 'Provided that their mates would pity them.' 160. _Daunger_ usually means 'power to har |