Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookin his dayes olde, Thou shalt him telle this message, That he, upon his later age, To sette an ende of al his werke, As he, which is _myn owne clerke_, Do make _his testament of love_, As thou hast do thy shrifte above, So that _my court it may recorde_.' These lines are followed by a laudation of King Richard, which Gower afterwards conscientiously suppressed. The course of events had shewn him that such praise was unfitting. I take it that these lines were written in 1385, at the very time when the author learnt that his friend Chaucer was at work upon a new poem which he meant to be a great work, viz. the Legend of Good Women. This poem Venus might well claim as being written by her own clerk, as a testament of love, containing legacies of bright examples set by Love's martyrs; and, just as Gower wrote his own poem as a 'shrift,' Chaucer was writing his as a 'penance' (Leg. Good Women, 491) at the command of Cupid (437, 548), a command which was given _at his court_ (352). We can readily understand how Venus could speak of Cupid's court as being her own court; it makes no practical difference. It remains to shew (with Lücke) that Chaucer and Gower both knew Trivet, and that Gower's language sometimes resembles Chaucer's rather than Trivet's. The former proposition is soon settled. Where Trivet says, 'et ferri tiel coup en le haterel le feloun' (p. 23, l. 30), Chaucer has, 'A hand him smoot upon the nekke-bon' (669); but Gower omits to mention the 'nekke-bone,' which translates _haterel_. This shews that Chaucer used Trivet's text. On the other hand, Gower mentions Knaresburgh (i. 191), which he found in Trivet, whilst Chaucer says nothing about it; see note to B 729. As to the instances in which one poet has copied the other, whilst at the same time Trivet does not suggest the phraseology which they employ, Lücke gives twenty-seven examples in Anglia, xiv. 183. Some of these are rather far-fetched and doubtful, and not many of them are very clear; but their cumulative evidence sufficiently proves the fact. I shall only adduce the clearer cases. 'Ch.' means Chaucer, and 'G.' is Gower. I correct Pauli's spelling. Ch. B 430:-- Ben al to-hewe and stiked _at the bord_. G. i. 182, l. 29:-- _Endlong the bord_ as they be set Trivet merely says that they killed all the Christians. Ch. B 436:-- That of the _conseil_ of the sowdan woot. G. 182, l. 25:-- And alle tho, that hadden be... Of _counseil_ to the mariage. Trivet merely says--the other converts to the faith. Ch. B 438 (not in Trivet):-- And Custance han they _take anon_, foot-hoot. G. 183, l. 15:-- This olde fend, this Sarazin Let _take anon_ this Constantin. Ch. B 439:-- And in _a shippe al sterelees_, god woot. G. 183, l. 19:-- _A_ naked _ship, withoute stere_. This instance is the more remarkable because Trivet says, 'saunz sigle et sauntz neuiroun,' i.e. without sail or oar, without any mention of the _stere_ or rudder. Ch. B 535 (not in Trivet):-- But _Hermengild lovede hir right as hir lyf_. G. 184, l. 29:-- Dame _Hermegild ... ... liche her owne lyf Constance loveth_. This, at any rate, is a clear case. Ch. B 562:-- Dame _Hermengild, yif me my sighte agayn_. G. 185, ll. 13, 15:-- O _Hermegilde ... yif me my sighte_. Trivet's expression is different, viz. 'Hermegild, ... I pray thee to make the sign of the rood on my blind eyes.' Ch. B 599:-- Al _softely is to the bed y-go_. G. 187, l. 18:-- And _to the bed he stalketh stille_. Trivet does not refer to this _motion towards_ the bed; he merely says that Constance and Hermegild were both in the same bed. Ch. B 620:-- Berth hir on hand that she _hath doon this thing_. G. 188, l. 15:-- Saith that Custance hath _don this dede_. Trivet puts it differently--'he heaped the death hugely on the maid.' Ch. B 685:-- _The king, and many another in that place_, Converted was. G. 190, l. 7:-- _The king, with many another mo_, He cristned. It is remarkable that Trivet says that king Alle caused _himself_ to be baptized; there is not a word about _others_. Ch. B 721, 2:-- She halt _hir chambre_, abyding Cristes wille. The _tyme is come_, a knave-child she ber. G. 191, ll. 1-3:-- _The tyme_ set of kinde _is come_, This lady hath _her chambre_ nome, And of a sone bore fulle, &c. A clear case; Trivet uses no such expressions. Ch. B 759:-- But of his owene bond _he wroot ageyn_. G. 193, l. 3:-- _He wroot ayein._ Here the French text has 'rescrit,' wrote back. Ch. B 799:-- But _in the same ship as he hir fond_. G. 194, l. 11:-- That ye _the same ship_ vitaille, _In which that she took arrivaille_. A remarkable case; for Trivet makes it a new ship--'vne neef.' Ch. B 825:-- _kneling on the stronde_ (not in Trivet). G. 195, l. 7:-- _Knelend upon her bare knee._ Ch. B 916:-- _Com into ship._ G. 196, l. 28:-- _cam to ship._ Trivet uses the expression 'descendi,' i.e. came down. Ch. B 1045:-- _Goth Alla, for to seen this_ wonder chaunce. G. 207, l. 23:-- _To see this_ Custe _goth the king_. Trivet has it differently. Ch. B 1093:-- The emperour hath graunted gentilly. G. 209, l. 19:-- This lord hath graunted his requeste. Taken altogether, these appropriations by Gower, though not in themselves very marked, must have been annoying to his brother-poet. It is worth while to notice that, in the three cases of the Wyf of Bathes Tale, the Phisiciens Tale, and the Maunciples Tale, Chaucer and Gower again tell the same stories; and though Chaucer wrote at a later date, he certainly has not copied. § 39. THE SHIPMAN'S PROLOGUE. This Prologue is assigned to the Shipman in MS. Arch. Seld. only; see the footnote to B 1179. MS. Harl. 3774 assigns it to the Sompnour; whilst very many MSS. assign it to the Squire. The three chief MSS. (E., Hn., Cm.) omit it altogether; from which we may perhaps infer that it was a very late addition to the set of Tales. In order to exhibit the variations of the MSS. more clearly, Dr. Furnivall has printed this Prologue from no less than twenty-two MSS., with the result that only one, viz. MS. Arch. Seld. above, rightly assigns it to the Shipman and, at the same time, places it after the Man of Lawes Tale. Three of the MSS., viz. Harl. 7334, Rawl. Misc. 1133, and Royal 17 D. XV, assign it to the Sompnour, but they are all clearly wrong, because, notwithstanding this mention of the Sompnour, the Tale that follows is assigned, in the first, to the Wyf of Bathe, and, in the others, to the Squire! Eighteen of the MSS. assign this Prologue to the Squire, and insert his Tale after it. We may hence conclude that, in some early copies, a displacement of the Tales occurred at this point. But it is easy to see that MS. Arch. Seld., the sole authority for the present arrangement, is here quite right[114]. The latter part of the Prologue (B 1178-90) is quite unsuited to the character of the Squire, but in keeping with that of the Shipman. Further, |