Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookully, I here cite several of these lines, marking off the first syllable in the right way:-- 'That | of all' the flour-es in the med-e'; 41. 'Suf | fisaunt this flour to preys' aright'; 67. 'Of | this flour, when that it shuld unclos-e'; 111. 'Mad' | her lyk a daisie for to sen-e'; 224. 'Half | hir beautee shulde men nat fynd-e'; 245. 'With | the whyt-e coroun, clad in gren-e'; 303. 'Mai | dens been y-kept, for Ielosy-e'; 722. 'For | to met' in o plac' at o tyd-e'; 783. 'With | her fac' y-wimpled subtilly'; 797. 'Both | e with her hert' and with her y-ën'; 859. 'Bet | ing with his hel-es on the ground-e'; 863. 'We | that wer-en whylom children your-e'; 901. 'Been | as trew' and loving as a man'; 911. 'Had | den in this temple been ov'r-al'; 1024. 'We | that wer-en in prosperitee'; 1030. 'Lyk | ed him the bet, as, god do bot-e'; 1076. 'Lov' | wol lov', for no wight wol hit wond-e'; 1187. 'Send' | her lettres, tokens, broches, ring-es'; 1275. 'Mer | cy, lord! hav' pitè in your thoght'; 1324. 'Twen | ty tym' y-swowned hath she than-ne'; 1342. 'With | her meynee, end-e-long the strond-e'; 1498. 'Yift | es gret', and to her officeres'; 1551. 'Fad | er, moder, husbond, al y-fer-e'; 1828. 'Fight | en with this fend, and him defend-e'; 1996. 'Tell | en al his doing to and fro'; 2471. 'Y | permistra, yongest of hem all-e'; 2575. It is worth notice that they become scarcer towards the end of the poem. For all that, Chaucer regarded this form of the line as an admissible variety, and Hoccleve and Lydgate followed him in this peculiarity. The practice of Hoccleve and Lydgate is entirely ignored by those to whom it is convenient to ignore it. Perhaps they do not understand it. The usual argument of those who wish to regulate Chaucer's verse according to their own preconceived ideas, is to exclaim against the badness of the MSS. and the stupidity of the scribes. This was tolerably safe before Dr. Furnivall printed his valuable and exact copies of the MSS., but is less safe now. We now have twelve MSS. (some imperfect) in type, besides a copy of Thynne's first edition of the poem in 1532, making thirteen authorities in all. Now, as far as this particular matter is concerned, the chief MSS. shew a wonderful unanimity. In ll. 41, 111, 224, 722, 797, 901, 911, 1076, 1187, 1996, there is no variation that affects the scansion. And this means a great deal more than it seems to do at first sight. For the scribes of MSS. A. and T. evidently did not like these lines, and sometimes attempted emendations with all the hardihood of modern editors. The fact that the scribes are unwilling witnesses, with a tendency to corrupt the evidence, makes their testimony upon this point all the stronger. Added to which, I here admit that, wherever there seemed to be _sufficient_ evidence, I have so far yielded to popular prejudice as to receive the suggested emendation. I now leave this matter to the consideration of the unprejudiced reader; merely observing, that I believe a considerable number of lines in the Canterbury Tales have been 'emended' in order to get rid of lines of this character, solely on the strength of the Harleian MS., the scribe of which kept a keen look-out, with a view to the suppression of this eccentricity on the part of his author. To give him much encouragement seems inconsistent with strict morality. The introduction (ll. 249-269) of a Balade of twenty-one lines makes every succeeding couplet end with a line denoted by an _odd_ number. The whole number of lines is 2,723. Dr. Furnivall was the first person who succeeded in counting their number correctly. § 12. DESCRIPTION OF THE MANUSCRIPTS. The MSS. easily fall into two distinct classes, and may be separated by merely observing the reading of l. 1396: see note to that line. MSS. C., T., A. here read _Guido_ or _Guydo_; whilst MSS. F., Tn., B. read _Ouyde_. MS. P. is here deficient, but commonly agrees with the former class. Those of the same class will be described together. Besides this, MS. C. is, as regards the Prologue only, unique of its kind; and is throughout of the highest authority, notwithstanding some unpleasant peculiarities of spelling. It is necessary to pay special attention to it. The list of the MSS. (including Thynne's edition) is as follows:-- A.--Arch. Selden B. 24; Bodleian Library (_First class_). Add.--Additional 9832; British Museum (_First class_). Additional 12524; British Museum (_First class_). B.--Bodley 638; Bodleian Library (_Second class_). C.--Cambridge Univ. Library, Gg. 4. 27 (_First class_). F.--Fairfax 16; Bodleian Library (_Second class_). P.--Pepys 2006; Magd. Coll., Cambridge (_First class_). T.--Trinity College, Cambridge, R. 3. 19 (_First class_). Th.--Thynne's edition, pr. in 1532 (_Second class?_). Tn.--Tanner 346; Bodleian Library (_Second class_). [alpha].--Additional 28617; British Museum (_First class_); but only a fragment, viz. ll. 513-610, 808-1105, 1306-1801, 1852-2110, 2125-2135, 2151-2723. [beta].--Cambridge Univ. Library, Ff. 1. 6 (Thisbe _only_). [gamma].--Rawlinson C. 86; Bodleian Library (Dido _only_). They may be thus described. C. (Camb. Univ. Lib. Gg. 4. 27) is the famous Cambridge MS., containing the Canterbury Tales, denoted by the symbol 'Cm.' in the footnotes to vol. iv (i.e. throughout the Canterbury Tales); also by the symbol 'Gg.' in vol. i., i.e. in the Minor Poems; see p. 49 of the Introduction to vol. i. It also contains some other pieces by Chaucer, viz. the A. B. C., Envoy to Scogan, Truth, Troilus, and the Parlement of Foules. It is of early date, and altogether the oldest, best, and most important of the existing copies of the Legend. I shall call all those that resemble it MSS. of the _first class_. Its great peculiarity is that it possesses the unique copy of the early draught of the Prologue; see p. xxi. Upon comparison of it with the Fairfax MS. (the best MS. of the _second class_), it is found to offer slight differences in many places throughout the various Legends, besides presenting large differences throughout the Prologue. The variations are frequently for the better, and it becomes clear that the first class of MSS. is of an older type. The second class is of a later type, and differs in two ways, in one way for the worse, and in another way for the better. In the former respect, it presents corrupted or inferior readings in several passages; whilst, on the other hand, it presents corrections that are real improvements, and may have been due to revision. No doubt there was once in existence a correct edition of the revised text, but no existing MS. represents it. We can, however, practically reconstruct it by a careful collation of MS. C. with MS. F.; and this I have attempted to do. Throughout the Prologue, I take MS. C. as the basis of the 'A-text,' correcting its eccentricities of spelling, but recording them in footnotes wherever the variation is at all important; such a varia |