Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookth in the statement that it was written for the use of the Duchess Blanche, who died in 1369. At the same time, it can be shewn that 'Palamon and Arcite' was written in stanzas, so that the present metre of the Knight's Tale presents no difficulty. Of course it will be understood that there is, in these stanza-tales, some of Chaucer's latest work, but I shall presently shew that this late work is easily picked out. I have already pointed out that the Prioress's Tale (of unusual brevity) is an exception to the general rule. § 13. The above distinction was suggested to me by the simple _fact_, that Chaucer cannot be proved to have used his couplets till he was well advanced in composition. Indeed, it has always been remarked that no English poet before him ever dreamt of such a metre, and it has been a source of wonder, for hundreds of years, whence he derived it. To say that it was derived from the French ten-syllable verse is not a complete solution of the mystery; for nearly all such verse is commonly either _in stanzas_, or else _a great number_ of successive lines are rimed together. We have to discover a specimen of French ten-syllable verse in which _only two_ successive lines are rimed together; and these, I believe, are very scarce. After some search I have, however, fortunately lighted upon a very interesting specimen, among the poems of Guillaume de Machault, a French writer whom Chaucer is known to have imitated[88], and who died in 1377. In the edition of Machault's poems edited by Tarbé, Reims and Paris, 1849, p. 89, there is a poem of exactly this character, of no great length, and fortunately dated; for its title is--'Complainte écrite après la bataille de Poitiers et avant le siège de Reims par les Anglais' (1356-1358). The first four lines run thus:-- 'A toy, Henry, dous amis, me complain, Pour ce que ne cueur ne mont ne plein[89]; Car a piet suy, sans cheval et sans selle, Et si n'ay mais esmeraude, ne belle.' The last couplet (the second line of which has two examples of the fully-sounded final _e_) is as follows:-- 'Et que jamais ne feray chant ne lay, Adieu te di: car toutë joië lay.' As some of Machault's poems seem to have been lost, he may have written several more poems in the same metre. In any case, we know that Chaucer was well acquainted with his works, and it is also almost certain that the earliest attempt to use this metre in English was made by Chaucer, in his Legend of Good Women, commenced, according to Professor Ten Brink, in the year 1385 (Furnivall's Trial Forewords, p. 111). Surely this date is one of considerable importance; for we at once derive from it the probability that all of the Canterbury Tales written in this metre were written after 1385, whilst those not in this metre _may_ have been earlier, though one of them and a part of some others appear to be later. § 14. It appears that the original scheme, whereby each pilgrim was to tell two Tales on the way to Canterbury, and two on his return, was modified, at the time of writing the Parson's Prologue, to a less ambitious scheme whereby each pilgrim was to tell but one Tale apiece. Indeed, the expressions--'Almost fulfild is _al_ myn ordinaunce' in the Parson's Prologue (I 19), and again--'To knitte up al this feeste, and make an ende' in the same (I 47), clearly indicate that the author would, by that time, have been content with the far humbler task of providing but one Tale apiece for the outward journey _only_. This would have reduced the original scheme to only a quarter of what had been intended; but even thus far the work was never completed. All that finally appeared consists of nine separate fragments; yet they amount to more than 17,000 lines, besides two Tales in prose. It would have been well if the latest scheme, i.e. the quarter of the first scheme, could have been thoroughly carried out; but we must be thankful for what we have. § 15. Two attempts were made by subsequent authors to continue the Canterbury Tales; it may be worth while to give here a brief notice of them. The Tale of Beryn, by an anonymous author, belongs to the early part of the fifteenth century. It has been printed for the Chaucer Society from the Duke of Northumberland's MS. no. 55, where it occurs at leaf 180, after the Canon's Yeoman's Tale. This Tale is supposed to have been the first one told after leaving Canterbury on the return journey, and is put into the mouth of the Merchant, who volunteers to tell it without troubling the host to go through the process of casting lots. It is preceded by a Prologue, which accounts for the manner in which the time was passed in Canterbury. A considerable portion of it is taken up by an account of an amour of the Pardoner; but we also learn several particulars which are of interest, as they refer to the pilgrimage of the characters imagined by Chaucer, and serve to fill in the general idea. Following this guide, we learn that, on arriving at Canterbury, the Pilgrims lodged at an inn called 'The Cheker of the Hope,' or Chequer of the Hoop; and as soon as they had taken up their quarters there, proceeded to the cathedral, headed by the Knight, to make their offerings at the shrine, of silver brooches and the like. On arriving at the door, the question of precedence arose, as to which should first enter; but this was settled by the Knight, who gave way to 'the prelatis, the person and his fere[90].' Hereupon a monk appears, who sprinkles the company with holy water; and we find that the Friar was very anxious to be allowed to perform this duty for him--'so longid his holy conscience to se the Nonnys face.' The Knight and others repair to the shrine, but the Pardoner and the Miller, with others of like mind, chiefly occupy themselves with wandering about the cathedral, poring upon the stained glass in the windows, and discussing the coats-of-arms there displayed, as well as the chief subjects there depicted. However, the Host goes after them, and persuades them to visit the shrine, and pay their offerings. After kneeling down before the shrine, and kissing the various relics, they stay to hear the service, and afterwards repair to the inn to dinner, as it is now near noon. On their way, they buy, according to custom, some pilgrims' 'signs' or tokens; on which occasion the Miller and Pardoner obtain several 'Canterbury brooches' by the cheap process of stealing them. They afterwards display the signs, as usual, by wearing them stuck in their hats. On returning to the inn, they wash and sit down to dinner, and are soon in loud talk, greatly enjoying themselves. The Host then formally thanks the company for having, each of them, told 'a tale' according to the original compact[91]. All that is now required, he says, is 'that wee must so, homward, eche man tel anothir.' The Friar reminds the Host that they were all to sup with him on their return to Southwark (Prol. 799, 815). The Host says he is ready to do his part, and the compan |