Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookevertheless, _abreyd-e_ also appears in a _weak_ form, by confusion with _leyd-e_, _seyd-e_, &c.; see C. T., B 4198, E 1061. Cf. Book of the Duchess, 192. In l. 109, he refers to l. 65. 111. Here again, as in l. 63, is a mention of Dec. 10. Ten Brink (Studien, p. 151) suggests that it may have been a _Thursday_; cf. the mention of _Jupiter_ in ll. 608, 642, 661. If so, the year was 1383. 115. 'Like one that was weary with having overwalked himself by going two miles on pilgrimage.' The difficulty was not in the walking two miles, but in doing so under difficulties, such as going barefoot for penance. 117. _Corseynt_; O.F. _cors seint_, lit. holy body; hence a saint or sainted person, or the shrine where a saint was laid. See Robert of Brunne, Handlyng Synne, 8739:-- 'And hys ymage ful feyre depeynte, Ry[gh]t as he were a _cors seynt_.' See also P. Plowman, B. v. 539; Morte Arthure, 1164; and (the spurious) Chaucer's Dream, 942. 118. 'To make that soft (or easy) which was formerly hard.' The allusion is humorous enough; viz. to the bonds of matrimony. Here again Chaucer follows Jean de Meun, Rom. de la Rose, 8871:-- 'Mariages est maus liens, Ainsinc m'aïst saint Juliens Qui pelerins errans herberge, Et saint Lienart qui defferge Les prisonniers bien repentans, Quant les voit à soi démentans'; i.e. 'Marriage is an evil bond--so may St. Julian aid me, who harbours wandering pilgrims; and St. Leonard, who frees from their fetters (lit. un-irons) such prisoners as are very repentant, when he sees them giving themselves the lie (or recalling their word).' The 'prisoners' are married people, who have repented, and would recall their plighted vow. St. Leonard was the patron-saint of captives, and it was charitably hoped that he would extend his protection to the wretched people who had unadvisedly entered into wedlock, and soon prayed to get out of it again. They would thus exchange the _hard_ bond for the _soft_ condition of freedom. 'St. Julian is the patron of pilgrims; St. Leonard and St. Barbara protect captives'; Brand, Pop. Antiquities, i. 359. And, at p. 363 of the same, Brand quotes from Barnabee Googe:-- 'But Leonerd of the prisoners doth the bandes asunder pull, And breaks the prison-doores and chaines, wherewith his church is full.' St. Leonard's day is Nov. 6. 119. The MSS. have _slept-e_, which is dissyllabic. Read _sleep_, as in C. T. Prol. 397. 120. Hence the title of one of Lydgate's poems, The Temple of Glass, which is an imitation of the present poem. 130. Cf. the description of Venus' temple (Cant. Tales, A 1918), which is imitated from that in Boccaccio's Teseide. 133. Cf. 'naked fleting in the large see.... And on hir heed, ful semely for to see, A rose garland, fresh and wel smellinge'; Cant. Tales, A 1956. 137. 'Hir dowves'; C. T., A 1962. 'Cupido'; id. 1963. 138. _Vulcano_, Vulcan; note the Italian forms of these names. Boccaccio's Teseide has _Cupido_ (vii. 54), and _Vulcano_ (vii. 43). His face was brown with working at the forge. 141, 2. Cf. Dante, Inf. iii. 10, 11. 143. A large portion of the rest of this First Book is taken up with a summary of the earlier part of Vergil's Aeneid. We have here a translation of the well-known opening lines:-- 'Arma uirumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris Italiam, fato profugus, Lauinia uenit Littora.' 147. _In_, into, unto; see note to l. 366. 152. _Synoun_, Sinon; Aen. ii. 195. 153. I supply _That_, both for sense and metre. 155. _Made the hors broght_, caused the horse to be brought. On this idiom, see the note to Man of Lawes Tale, B 171. 158. _Ilioun_, Ilium. _Ilium_ is only a poetical name for Troy; but the medieval writers often use it in the restricted sense of the citadel of Troy, where was the temple of Apollo and the palace of Priam. Thus, in the alliterative Troy-book, 11958, _ylion_ certainly has this sense; and Caxton speaks of 'the palays of _ylyon_'; see Spec. of English, ed. Skeat, p. 94. See also the parallel passage in the Nonne Preestes Tale, B 4546. Still more clearly, in the Leg. Good Women (Dido, 13), Chaucer says, of 'the tour of Ilioun,' that it 'of the citee was the cheef dungeoun.' In l. 163 below, it is called _castel_. 160. _Polites_, Polites; Aen. ii. 526. Also spelt _Polite_ in Troil. iv. 53. 163. _Brende_, was on fire; used intransitively, as in l. 537. 164-73. See Aen. ii. 589-733. 174. Read _this_, rather than _his_. Cf. Aen. ii. 736. 177. Iulus and Ascanius were one and the same person; see Æn. i. 267. Perhaps Ch. was misled by the wording of Æn. iv. 274. (On the other hand, Brutus was _not_ the same person as Cassius; see Monkes Tale, B 3887). Hence, Koch proposes to read _That hight_ instead of _And eek_; but we have no authority for this. However, Chaucer has it right in his Legend of Good Women, 941; and in l. 192 below, we find _sone_, not _sones_; hence l. 178 may be merely parenthetical. 182. _Wente_, foot-path; Aen. ii. 737. Cf. Book Duch. 398. 184. 'So that she was dead, but I know not how.' Vergil does not say _how_ she died. 185. _Gost_, ghost; see Aen. ii. 772. 189. Repeated from l. 180. 198. Here Chaucer returns to the first book of the Æneid, which he follows down to l. 255. 204. 'To blow forth, (with winds) of all kinds'; cf. Æn. i. 85. 219. _Ioves_, Jove, Jupiter. This curious form occurs again, ll. 586, 597, 630; see note to l. 586. Boccaccio has _Giove_. 226. _Achatee_ (trisyllabic), Achates, Æn. i. 312; where the abl. form _Achate_ occurs. 239. The story of Dido is told at length in Le Rom. de la Rose, 13378; in The Legend of Good Women; and in Gower, Conf. Amantis, bk. iv., ed. Pauli, ii. 4. Chaucer now passes on to the fourth book of the Æneid, till he comes to l. 268 below. 265. 'Mès ja ne verrés d'aparence Conclurre bonne consequence'; Rom. Rose, 12343. 272. 'It is not all gold that glistens.' A proverb which Chaucer took from Alanus de Insulis; see note to Can. Yem. Tale, G 962. 273. 'For, as sure as I hope to have good use of my head.' _Brouke_ is, practically, in the optative mood. Cf. 'So mote I brouke wel myn eyen tweye'; Cant. Ta., B 4490; so also E 2308. The phrase occurs several times in the Tale of Gamelyn; see note to l. 334 of that poem. 280-3. These four lines occur in Thynne's edition only, but are probably quite genuine. It is easy to see why they dropped out; viz. owing to the repetition of the word _finde_ at the end of ll. 279 and 283. This is a very common cause of such omissions. See note to l. 504. 286. _By_, with reference to. 288. _Gest_, guest; Lat. _aduena_, Æn. iv. 591. 290. 'He that fully knows the herb may safely lay it to his eye.' So in Cotgrave's Dict., s.v. _Herbe_, we find; '_L'herbe qu'on cognoist, on la doit lier à son doigt_; Prov. Those, or that, which a man knowes best, he must use most.' 305. In the margin of MSS. F. and B. is here written:--'Cauete uos, innocentes mulieres.' 315. _Swete herte_; hence E. _sweetheart_; cf. l. 326. 321. Understand |