The holy blissful martyr for to seek That them hath holpen when that they were sick. In Southwark at the Tabard as I lay, In fellowship, and pilgrims were they all THE KNIGHT AND SQUIRE. A Knight there was, and that a worthy man Truth and honour, freedom and courtesy. With him there was his son, a youngé Squire, With lockés curl'd as they were laid in press; And wonderly deliver, and great of strength; Embroider'd was he, as it were a mead Short was his gown, with sleevés long and wide; Well could he sit on horse, and fairé ride: He couldé songés make, and well endite, Joust and eke dance, and well pourtray and write: So hot he loved, that by nightertale10 He slept no more than doth the nightingale: 3 Wide-spacious. 1 That is, the inn called "The Tabard." The Tabard was a "jacket, or sleeveless coat, worn f times past by noblemen in the wars, but now only by heralds, and is called their coat of arms in service."-Speght. 2 Wenden-go, make way. 4 Eased atté best commodiously lodged. 6 Farre-farther. 6 Wonderly deliver-wonderfully active: from the French libre, free. 7 Chevachie, (French, chevauchee,) a military expedition. 8 Conducted himself well, considering the short time that he had served. 9 Floyting-fluting, playing on the flute, whistling. The squire would not, in all probability, have a flute always with him. 1 saoula therefore prefer the reading that he whistled all the day :" as being a more natural touch et charaoter, as well as in keeping with the hilarity of youth. 10 Nightertale-night-time. THE CLERK.1 A Clerk there was of Oxenford also, As leané was his horse as is a rake, Of them that gave him wherewith to scholay.7 THE WIFE. A good Wife was there of besidé Bath, But she was some deal deaf, and that was scathe. Her coverchiefs weren full fine of ground; Full strait ytied, and shoes full moist12 and new · Husbands at the church door had she had five.13 I In the interesting character of the "clerk" or scholar, whose poverty, delight in study, and inattention to worldly affairs are eminently conspicuous, Warton thinks that Chaucer glanced at the nattention paid to literature, and the unprofitableness of philosophy. That is, a scholar. 8 Ygo-part. past, gone. 4 Overest courtepy-uppermost short cloak. 6 Hent-catch hold of. 7 Scholay-study. 5 Lever-rather. period. Scathe-harm, damage. 8 High sentence-1. e. lofty 10 Haunt-custom. 11 Head-dress. 12 Moist-fresh. 13 This alludes to the old custom of the parties joining hands at the door of the church before they went up to the altar to consummate the union; and this jolly dame and good housewife is repro sented as having gone through that interesting ceremony five times. THE PARSON.1 A good man there was of religión, And such he was yprovéd often sithés ;3 Of his off ring, and eke of his substance; The farthest in his parish much and lite And shame it is, if that a priest take keep And let his sheep accumbreds in the mire, 1 In describing the sanctity, simplicity, sincerity, patience, Industry, courage, and conscient.us Impartiality of this excellent parish-priest, Chaucer, as Warton observes, has shown his good schne and good heart. Is not Goldsmith indebted to it for some of the beautiful traits in the character of his Village Preacher, in the Deserted Village 1 Parishens-parishioners. lite-great and small. 8 Sithes-times. 4 Sumsance-sufficiency. Much and 8 Accumbred-encumbered. Chantery. An endowment for the payment of a priest to sing mass agreeably to the appoint ment of the founder. There were thirty-five of these chantries established at St. Paul's, which were served by fifty-four priests.-Dugdale, Hist. pref. p. 41. 10 Withold-withholden, withheld 11 Dispitous-inexorable, angry to excess. 12 Dangerous-sparing. 13 Digne-proud, disdainful To drawen folk to heaven with fairéness, What so he were of high or low estate, Him would he snibben2 sharply for the nonés:3 But Christés lore, and his apostles twelve He taught, but first he followed it himselve. But the Canterbury Tales are by no means the only production of Chaucer's muse. He has written many other poems containing passages equal to any thing found in his chief work. The following are the principal. TROILUS AND CRESEIDE. This is in five books, in which the vicissitudes of love are depicted in a strain of true poetry, with much pathos and simplicity of sentiment." The author calls it "a litill tragedie." On the whole, however, it is rather tedious, from its innumerable digressions. For instance, Troilus declaims, for about one hundred lines, on the doctrine of predesti nation. ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE. This is an allegory, depicting the difficulties and dangers encountered by a lover in pursuit of the object of his affections, who is set forth under the emblem of the rose. He traverses vast ditches, scales lofty walls, and forces the gates of adamantine and almost impregnable castles. These enchanted fortresses are all inhabited by various divinities, some of which assist, and some oppose the lover's progress. Thus this poem furnishes a great variety of rich and beautiful descriptions-paintings most true to nature. THE HOUSE OF FAME. This is represented under the form of a dream, and consists of three books. It abounds in lively and vigorous description, in disquisitions on natural philosophy, and in sketches of human nature of no com mon beauty. The poet, in a vision, sees a temple of glass, on the walls of which are displayed in portraitures the history of Æneas, abridged from Virgil. After looking around him, he sees aloft, "fast by the sun," a gigantic eagle, which souses down, and bears him off in his talons through the upper regions of air, leaving clouds, tempests, hail, and snow far beneath him, and at length arrives among the celestial signs of the Zodiac. Here his journey ends. The House of Fame" is before him. It is built of materials bright as polished glass, and stands on a rock of ice of excessive height, and almost inaccessible. All the southern side of the rock is covered with the names of famous men, which were perpetually melting away by the heat of the sun; but those on the northern side remained unmelted and uneffaced. The poet then enters the building, and beholds the Goddess of Fame, seated upon a throne of sculptured carbuncle. Before her appear the various candidates for her favor; and here the poet has admirably improved the wide field before nim in describing the capricious judgment of the fickle deity in awarding her favors. Pope, in his "Temple of Fame," has imitated Chaucer to a considerable extent, as may be seen by comparing various passages in each author. 1 But it were-should it happen that any one were, &c. For the nones-for the occasion. 2 Snbben-rebuke, 4 Lore-learning, doctrine. THE EAGLE'S FLIGHT WITH THE POET. And I adown 'gan looken tho,' Now townés, and now great treés Was flowen from the ground so high That I ne might it not discern.4 THE FLOWER AND THE LEAF. This has an instructive moral. A gentlewoman, out of an arbor in a grove, seeth a great company of knights and ladies in a dance upon the green grass, the which being ended they all kneel down, and do honor to the daisy, some to the Flower and some to the Leaf. Afterward this gentlewoman learneth by one of these ladies the meaning hereof, which is this: they who honor the Flower, a thing fading with every blast, are such as look after beauty and worldly pleasure; but they that honor the Leaf, which abideth with the root, notwithstanding the winter storms and frosts, are they which follow virtue and true merit, without regarding worldly respects. Such are the chief poems of Geoffrey Chaucer." Though Chaucer was and is known chiefly as a poet, yet in his prose he equally excels all his contemporaries, thus verifying what we believe will be found to be a universal truth, that every good poet is no less distinguished for a clear and vigorous prose style. Two of the Canterbury Tales, the Tale of Melibeus and the Parson's Tale, are in prose, but his longest unversified production is his Testament of Love, written to defend his character from the imputations cast on it by his enemies. From the Tale of Melibeus we extract the following excellent remarks UPON RICHES. In getting of your riches, and in using of 'em, ye shulen alway have three things in your heart, that is to say, our Lord God, con 1 Tho-then. 2 Unnethes-not easily, with difficulty. 4 I stood, methonght, betwixt earth, seas, and skies, 3 Prick-point. Temple of Fame, lines 11-18. Read-"Clarke's Tales from Chaucer," written in imitation of Lamb's "Tales from Shakspeare,^ and Clarke's "Riches of Chaucer." Also, a critique upon Chaucer in the Retrospective Review, ix. 173; and another in the Edinburgh Review, iii. 437; also a parallel between Chaucer and Spenser in the latter Review, xxiv. 58. C |