Of Mars he maked hath right fwiche another,
That cofte largely of gold a fother:

And northward, in a touret on the wall,

Of alabaftre white and red corall
An oratorie riche for to fee,

In worship of Diane of chastitee,

1910

Hath Thefeus don wrought in noble wife.
But yet had I foryetten to devife
The noble kerving and the portreitures,
The fhape, the contenance, of the figures
That weren in thefe oratorics three.

1915

Firl in the temple of Venus maift thou fee 1920 Wrought on the wall, ful pitous to beholde, The broken flepes, and the fikes colde, The facred teres, and the waimentinges, The firy ftrokes of the defiringes, That Loves fervantes in this lif enduren, The othes that hir covenants affuren. Plefance and Hope, Defire, Foolhardineffe, Beaute and Youthe, Baudrie and Richeffe, Charmes and Force, Lefinges and Flaterie, Difpence, Befineffe, and Jaloufie,

1925

1930

. 1915. Hath Thefeus don wrought] This fhould rather be don work. The participle of the past time is put improperly for the infinitive mode. But the fame inaccuracy occurs again in ver. 4591;

Thefe marchants han don fraught hir fhippes newe

. 1920. the temple of Venus] In the defcription of this temple Chaucer has taken very little from Boccace, as he had already inferted a very clofe imitation of this part of The Thefeida in

That wered of yelwe goldes a gerlond,
And hadde a cuckow fitting on hire hond,
Feftes, inftruments, and caroles and dances,
Luft and array, and all the circumstances

Of Love, which that I reken and reken fhall, 1935
By ordre weren peinted on the wall,
And mo than I can make of mention;
For fothly all the mount of Citheron,
Ther Venus hath hire principal dwelling,
Was fhewed on the wall in purtreying,
With all the gardin, and the luftinesse :
Nought was foryetten the porter Idelnesse,
Ne Narciffus the fayre of yore agon,
Ne yet the folie of King Salomon,
Ne

yet the grete ftrengthe of Hercules,
Th' enchantment of Medea and Circes,
Ne of Turnus the hardy fiers corage,
The riche Crefus caitif in servage.

1940

1945

his Affemblee of Foules, from ver. 183, to ver. 287. If that poem alludes (as I fufpect) to the intended marriage between John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancafter, which took place in 1359, it will follow that the poem of Palamon and Arcite muft have been compofed after that period.

. 1932. And hadde a cuckow] Hadde is inferted upon the authority of edit. M. I do not recollect to have found it in any mf.

. 1942. the porter Idelneffe] In the Affemb. of F. ver. 261, Richeffe is the porter of Venus; but Idelneffe, Dame Oyfeufe, is the porter of the Jardin de Deduit. Rom. de la R. 645.

Thus may ye feen that wisdom ne richesse,
Beaute ne fleighte, ftrenghte ne hardineffe,
Ne may with Venus holden champartie,
For as hire life the world may fhe gie.

Lo, all thefe folk fo caught were in hire las
Til they for wo ful often faid Alas!
Sufficeth here enfamples on or two,
And yet I coude reken a thousand mo.
The flatue of Venus, glorious for to fee,

Was naked fleting in the large fee,

1950

1955

And fro the navel doun all covered was

With wawes grene, and bright as any glas.

1960

A citole in hire right hand hadde fhe,
And on hire hed, ful femely for to fee,
A rofe gerlond fresh and wel fmelling,
Above hire hed hire doves fleckering:
Before hire ftood hire fone Cupido,
Upon his fhoulders winges had he two,
And blind he was, as it is often fene;

A bow he bare and arwes bright and kene.
Why fulde I not as wel eke tell you all

The purtreiture that was upon the wall
Within the temple of mighty Mars the Rede?
All peinted was the wall in length and brede

1965

1970

Like to the eflres of the grifly place

That highte the gret temple of Mars in Trace,
In thike colde and frosty region,

1975

Ther as Mars hath his fovereine manfion.

First on the wall was peinted a foreft,
In which ther wonneth neyther man ne best,
With knotty knarry barrein trees. old
Of ftubbes fharpe and hidous to behold,

In which ther ran a romble and a swough,

1980

As though a storme shuld breften every hough;

And dounward from an hill under a bent

Ther stood the temple of Mars Armipotent,
Wrought all of burned stele, of which th' entree 1985

Was longe and ftreite, and ghastly for to fee;
And therout came a rage and swiche a vise

That it made all the gates for to rife.

With yren tough, and for to make it strong,

Every piler the temple to fuftene

1995

Was tonne-gret, of yren bright and shene.
Ther faw I firft the derke imagining

Of Felonie, and alle the compaffing;
The cruel ire, red as any glede,

The pikepurse, and cke the pale drede,

2000

. 1977.] I shall throw together a few lines of The Thefei

da which Chaucer has plainly copied in this description;

Ne v'era beftia ancora ne paftore
Cerri-Nodofi, afpri, rigidi e vetufti
E le porte e an de eterno adamante
Ferrato d'ogni parte tutte quante.

2005

The fmiler with the knif under the cloke,
The fhepen brenning with the blake smoke,
The trefon of the mordring in the bedde,
The open werre, with woundes all bebledde;
Conteke with blody knif and sharp manace:
All full of chirking was that fory place.
The fleer of himself yet faw I there,
His herte blood hath bathed all his here;
The naile ydriven in the fhode on hight,
The colde deth, with mouth gaping upright. 2010
Amiddes of the temple fate Mifchance,

With discomfort and fory contenance;

Yet faw I Woodneffe laughing in his rage,

Armed Complaint, Outhees, and fiers Outrage;
The carraine in the bufh, with throte ycorven, 2015
A thousand flain, and not of qualme yftorven;
The tirant, with the prey by force yraft;
The toun deftroied, ther was nothing laft:

1999. The cruel ire] From The Thefeida;

Vide vi le ire roffe come focho

E la paura palida in quel locho.

The pikepurfe (I am forry to fay) is Chaucer's own.

. 2002. The shepen] The ftable, from the Sax. feypen, which fignifics the fame thing. The tranflator of Bede renders ad ftabula jumentorum-to neata feypene. B. iv. c. 24.

V. 2014. Outhees] Outery, from butefium, a term well known in our law. This line has ufually been printed

Armed complaint on theft and fiers corage.

. 2019. the hippes hoppeteres] It is needless to trouble the reader with the various readings and interpretations of this pallage. To hoppe, in Saxon, fignified exactly the fame as to dance, though with us it has acquired a ludicrous fense; and