THE MAN OF LAWES PROLOGUE. OUR Hofte faw wel that the brighte fonne And faw wel that the shadow of every tree 4425 And therfore by the shadow he toke his wit 4430 That Phebus, which that shone so clere and bright, Degrees was five-and-forty clombe on hight; And for that day, as in that latitude, It was ten of the cloks he gan conclude, And fodenly he plight his hors aboute. 4435 Lordings, quod he, I warne you all this route The fourthe partie of this day is gon; Now for the love of God and of Seint John Lordings, the time it wasteth night and day, 4440 4421. Our Hofte faw wel] Concerning the time of day meant to be pointed out in the following lines fee the Dijcourse, c. 5. Wel can Senek and many a philofophre Sire Man of Lawe, quod he, so have ye blis, For fwiche lawe as man yeveth another wight Thus wol our text; but natheles certain I can right how no thrifty Tale fain, But Chaucer (though he can but lewedly On metres and on riming craftily) 4445 4450 4455 4460 4465 V. 4450. Malkins maidenbede] Acommon phrase. P. P. fol. vii. a. b.; Ye have no more merit of maffe ne of houres Than Malkin of hire maydenbood, that no man defireth. .4467. But Chaucer] So mff. C. 1, Ask. 1, 2. In the editt, it had been ftrangely corrupted into That. Hath fayd hem in swiche English as he can In his Epiftolis, that ben ful olde. What fhuld I tellen hem fin they ben tolde? In youthe he made of Ceys and Alcyon, And fithen hath he spoke of everich on 4470 4475 4480 . 4477. In youtbe he made of Ceys] The ftory of Ceyx and Alcyone is related in the introduction to the poem which was for fome time called The Dreme of Chaucer, but which, in the mfl. Fairf. 16, and Bod.638, is more properly entitled The Booke of the Ducheffe. The following note, which has been prefixed to it in all the later editions, is in mf. Fairf. in the handwriting of John Stowe; "By the person of a mourning knight "fitting under an oke is meant John of Gaunt, Duke of Lan"cafter, greatly lamenting the death of one whom hee entirely "loved, fuppofed to be Bianche the Ducheffe." I believe John is very right in his conjecture. Chaucer himself, in his Leg. of G. W. 418, fays, that he made The Deth of Blaunche the Ducheffe; and in the poem now under confideration he plainly alludes to her name, ver. 948; And faire white the hete;} That was my ladys name right. On the other hand the knight is reprefented, ver. 455, 6; Of the age of foure-and-twenty yere, Upon his berde but litel here. whereas John of Gaunt, at the death of Blanche in 1369, was about nine-and-twenty years of age. But this perhaps was a defigned misreprefentation.I will just observe that the manner in which Chaucer fpeaks of his own age at the time of this compofition is a confirmation of what has been fuggefted in Cleped The Seintes Legende of Cupide: The barreine ile ftonding in the fee; The crueltee of thee, Quene Medea, 4485 4490 the Difcourfe, c. n. 3. that The Canterbury Tales were the work of his lateft years. When the Duchefs Blanch died he was one-and-forty, a time of life which, I believe, a man feldom calls his youth, till he is advanced at leaft twenty years be yond it. .4481. The Seintes Legende of Cupide] In the editt. it is called The Legende of Good Women; in ms. Fairf. 16, The Legendis of ix Gode Women. According to Lydgate [Prol. to Boccace] the number was to have been nineteen, and perhaps the Legende itfelf affords fome ground for this notion; fee ver. 183. But this number was probably never completed, and the laft ftory of Hypermneftra is seemingly unfinished.————— In this paffage the Man of Lawe omits two ladies, viz. Cleopatra and Philomela, whofe hiftories are in The Legende, and he enumerates eight others of whom there are no hiftories in The Legende as we have it at prefent: are we to suppose that they have been loft?-With respect to the time of Chaucer's writing The Legende fee the Difcourfe, &c. n. 3. . 4486. The plaint of Deianire] This reading is fupported by several mfl. of middling authority, but the better copies read Diane, and mf. A. Syane. There is a nymph Cyane in Ovid [Metam. 1. v,] who weeps herfelf into a fountain, but not for love. Thy litel children hanging by the hals For thy Jafon, that was of love fo fals: O Hipermeftra, Penelope, Alcefte! Your wifhood he commendeth with the beste. 4495 4500 Whan he hire threw upon the pavement. 4505 And therfore he of ful avifement N'old never write in non of his fermons Offwiche unkinde abhominations: Ne I wol non reherfe, if that I may, But of my Tale how shal I don this day? 4510 To Mufes that men clepe Pierides, (Metamorphofees wote what I mene) But natheles i recche not a bene Though I come after him with hawebake; fpeke in profe, and let him rimes make. 4515 . 4512. To Mufes that men clepe Pierides] He rather means, I think, the daughters of Pierus, who contended with the Muses, and were changed into pies. Ovid. Metam. 1. v. 4515. with harvebake] So mf. A. The other readings are-base i bake, mų. Afk. 1, 2.—hawke bake, E. C.--berry Volume 11. Τ |