"Poets, as barren as painters, contented themselves with descriptions suited to their talents, and never left off until the subject was worn out. They could scarcely sing any thing but the beauty of spring, the verdure of the country, the enamelled meads, the chaunt of the birds, the clearness of a beautiful fountain, or a rivulet that murmured. Sometimes, however, they told with simplicity the childish amusements of lovers,-their smiles, their pastimes, their palpitations in the joy of an agitated heart: their imagination did not extend further, and they were besides incapable of forming any link or connexion between their ideas.

"William de Lorris, who began the Roman de la Rose, feigns, that having fallen asleep in an orchard, he had seen in a dream allegorical personages of every virtue and every vice; that by walking through different groves he had heard their conversation, and had even con

versed with them himself. It is not known whether he be the first inventor of this fiction; but however that may be, all the poets, for more than two centuries, enchanted with so rare an invention, thought they could not do better than copy it,and whenever they enriched it with any additional circumstance, it was the utmost effort of their mind.

"It was, therefore, a long time after this period, that poets and painters, who had insensibly and separately brought their works to perfection, learnt to make choice of the grandest and most beautiful objects nature presented to them, to unite them with some sort of piopriety, and, having gained greater strength, to view with one glance the whole extent of their subject, and to form a general plan of it. It was then, that bringing the whole to one point of view, they learnt to reduce it to that unity without which all the works of genius or of art must ever remain below perfection.”

hath, in regarde that the laborious care of my father made hym most acceptable to the worlde in correctinge and augmentinge his Workes,) to enter into the examinatōne of this new editōne; and that the rather, because you, with Horace his verse Si quid novisti rectius istis candidus imperti, have willed all others to further the same, and to accepte your labors in good parte; whiche as I most willingly doo, so meaninge but well to the worke, I ame to lett you vnderstande my conceyte thereof, whiche before this, yf you wolde have vouchsafed my howse or have thoughte me worthy to have byn acqueynted with these matters, (which you might well have donne without anye whatsoeuer dysparagement to yourselfe,) you shoulde have vnderstoode before the impressione, althoughe this whiche I here write ys not nowe vppon selfe-will or fond conceyte to wrangle for an asses shadowe, or to seke a knott in a rushe; but in frendlye sorte to bringe truthe to lighte; a thinge, whiche I wolde desire others to vse towardes mee in whatsoeuer shall fall oute of my penne. Wherefore I will here shewe suche thinges as, in my opynione, may serue to be touched; not medlinge withe the seconde editione to an inferior personne than my fathers editione was.

"Ffirste, IN YOUR FORESPECHE TO THE READER, you saye secondly the texte by written copies corrected. By whiche worde corrected I maye seme to gather, that you imagine greate imperfectione in my fathers editione, whiche peraduenture maye move others to saye (as some vnadvisedly have sayed) that my father bad wronged Chaucer. Wherefore, to stoppe that gappe, I will answer, that Chaucers Works haue byn sithens printed twyce, yf not thrice; and therefore by oure carelesse (and

for the most parte vnlearned) printers of Englande, not so well performed as yt ought to bee: so that of necessytye bothe in matter, meter, and meaninge, yt must needes gather corruptone, passinge through so manye handes; as the water dothe, the further yt runneth from the pure founteyne. To induce mé and all others to iudge his editione (whiche I thinke you neuer sawe wholye together, beinge fyrst printed but in one columne in a page, whereof I will speake hereafter,) was the perfectest, ys the earnest desire and love my father hadde to have Chaucer's Workes rightlye to be publyshed. For the performance whereof, my father not onlye vsed the help of that lerned and eloquent knight and antiquarye S Briane Tuke, but had also made greate search for copies to perfecte his Workes, as appereth in the ende of the Squier's Tale, in his editione printed in the yere 1542; but further had commissione to serche all the libraries of England for Chaucers Works, so that oute of all the Abbies of this Realme (whiche reserved any monuments thereof) he was fully furnished with multitude of Bookes: emongst whiche, one coppye of some part of his Works came to his handes subscribed in diuers places withe examinatur Chauсет. By this Booke, and conferringe manye of the other written copies together, he delivered his editione, fullye corrected, as the amendements vnder his hande, in the fyrst printed booke that euer was of his Works, (being stamped by the fyrste impressione that was in Englande,) will well declare; at what time he added manye thinges, which were not before printed, as you nowe haue donne some, of which I ame perswaded (and that not withoute reasone) the originall came from

mee.

mee. In whiche his editione, beinge printed but with one columne in a syde, there was the Pilgrymes Tale, a thinge moore odious to the Clergye then the speche of the Plowmanne; that Pilgrymes Tale, begynnynge in this sorte:

In Lincolnshyre, fast by a fenne, Standes a relligious howse who dothe yt kenne, &c.

In this Tale did Chaucer most bitterlye enveye against the pride, state, couetousnes, and extorcione of the byshoppes, their officialls, archdeacons, vicars generalls, commissaryes, and other officers of the spirituall courte. The inventione and order whereof (as I haue herde yt related by some nowe of good worshippe bothe in courte and countrye, but then my fathers clerkes,) was, that one comyinge into this relligious howse walked vpp and downe the churche, beholdinge goodlye pictures of byshoppes in the windowes; at lengthe the manne contynuynge in that contemplatione, not knowinge what byshoppes they were; a grave olde manne with a long white hede and berde, in a large blacke garment girded vnto hymn, came forthe and asked hym what he judged of those pictures in the windowes: who sayed, he knewe not what to make of them, but that they look ed lyke unto our mitred, bishoppes; to whome the olde father replied, yt is true, they are lyke, but not the same, for oure byshoppes are farr degenerate from them; and, with that, made a large discourse of the bishoppes and of their courtes. This Tale when kinge Henry the eighte had redde, he called my father vnto hym, sayinge, William Thynne, I doubt this will not be allowed; for I suspecte the byshoppes will 'call thee in question for yt.' To whome my father, beinge in great

fauore with his prince, (as manye yet lyvinge canne testyfye,) sayed, yf your grace be not offended, I

hope to be protected by you.' Wherevppon the kinge bydd hym goo his waye and feare not. All whiche notwithstandinge, my father was called in questione by the byshoppes and heaved at by cardinall Wolseye, his olde enymye, for manye causes, but mostly for that my father had furthered Skelton to publishe his Collin Cloute againste the Cardinall, the most parte of whiche Booke was compiled in my fathers howse at Erithe in Kente. But for all my fathers frendes, the Cardinalls perswadinge auctorytye was so greate with the kinge, that thoughe by the kinges fauor my father escaped bodelye daunger, yet the Cardinall caused the kinge so muche to myslyke of that Tale, that Chaucer must be nowe printed and that discourse of the Pilgrymes Tale lefte oute; and so, beinge printed agayne, some thinges were forsed to be omitted; and the Plowmans Tale (supposed, but vntrulye, to be made by olde sir Thomas Wyat, father to hym whiche was executed in the firste yere of Quene Marye, and not by Chaucer,) with much ado permitted to passe with the reste, in suche sorte, that in one open parliamente (as I haue herde S Ioline Thynne reporte, being then a member of the howse,) when talke was bad of Bookes to be forbidden, Chaucer had there for euer byn condempned, had yt not byn that his Workes had byn counted but fables. Whereunto yf you will replye, that their coulde not be any suche Pilgrymes Tale, because Chaucer in his Prologues makethe not mentione of anye suche personne, which he wold haue donne, yf yt had byn so; for after that he had recyted the Knighte, the Squyer, the squiers Yeomane, the Prioresse,

her

her Nonne, and her thre Priests, the Monke, the Fryer, the Marchant, the Clerke of Oxenforde, Seriante at the lawe, Franckleyne, Haberdasher, Goldsmythe, Webbe, Dyer, and Tapyster, Cooke, Shypmane, Doctor of physicke, Wyfe of Bathe, Personne, and Plowmane, he sayeth, at the ende of the Plowmans Prologe,

There was also a Reve, and a Milliere,
A Sumpnoure, and a Pardoner also,
A Manciple, and my selfe, there was no mo.

All which make xxx persons with Chaucer. Wherefore yf there had byn any more, be wolde also haue recyted them in those verses. Whereunto I answere, that in the Prologes he lefte oute some of those whiche told their Tales; as the Chanons Yeomane, because he came after that they were passed oute of theyre inne, and did ouertake them, as in lyke sorte this Pilgrime did or myght doo, and so afterwardes be one of their companye, as was that Chanons Yeomane, although Chaucer talke no more of this Pilgrime in his Prologe then he dooth of the Chanons Yeomane; whiche I doubt not wolde fullye appere, yf the Pilgrimes Prologe and Tale mighte be restored to his former light, they beinge nowe loste, as manye other of Chaucers Tales were before that, as I ame induced to thinke by manye reasons. But to leave this, I must saye, that in those many written

J

Bookes of Chaucer, which came to my fathers hands, there were manye false copyes, which Chaucer shewethe in writinge of Adam Scriuener, (as you haue noted,) of whiche written copies there came to me after my fathers death some fyve and twentye; whereof some had more and some fewer Tales, and some but two and some three. Whiche Bookes being by me (as one nothing dobting of this whiche ys nowe donne for Chaucer) partly dispersed about xxvj yeres agoo, and partlye stoolen oute of my howse at Popler, I gave diuers of them to Stephen Batemanne, person of Newington, and to diuers other; whiche beinge copies vnperfecte, and some of them corrected by my fathers hande, yt maye happen some of them to come to some of youre frendes handes, whiche I knowe, yf I see agayne. And yf by anye suche written copies you haue corrected Chaucer, you maye as well offende as seme to do good. But I iudge the beste; for in doubtes I will not resolue with a settled iudgmente, althonghe you may judge this tedious discourse of my father a needlesse thinge in setting forthe his diligence in breaking the yce, and gyvinge lighte to others, who may more easily perfecte than begyne any thinge: for facilius est addere quàm invenire. And so to other matters."

IN

yet in my opynione, vnlesse a manne be a good Saxoniste, French, and Italyane linguiste, (from whence

Chaucer

Chaucer hathe borrowed manye wordes,) he cannott well expounde the same to our noweynderstandinge; and therefore (though I will not presume of much knowledge in these tounges) yt semeth yet to mee that, in your expositione, some wordes are not so fullye and rightlye explaned as they mighte bee; although peradventure you haue framed them to make sence. Wherefore I haue collected these fewe (from many others lefte for more leysure) whiche seme to mee not to be fully explaned in their proper nature, though peradventure you will seme to excuse them by a metaphoricall gloose.

"AKETON OF HAKETONE you expounde a jackett withoute sleves, without any further additōne, that beinge an indiffynyte speache, and therefore may be entended a comone garmente day lye vsed, suche as we call a jerken or jackett withoute sle ves. But haketon is a slevelesse jackett of plate for the warre, covered withe anye other stuffe ; at this day also called a jackett of plate. Suche aketon Walter Stapletone, bishoppe of Excester and Custos or Warden of Londone, had vppon hym secretlye, when he was apprehended and behedded in the twentyeth yere of Edwarde the seconde.

"BESANTE you expounde a duckett. But a duckett ys farre from a besante, bothe for the tyme of the inventōne, and for the forme; and as I suppose for the valewe, not withstandinge that Hollybande in his Frenche-Englishe dictionarye makes yt of the valewe of a duckett, whiche duckett is for the most part eyther Venetienne or Spanyshe, when the besante ys mere Grekishe; a coyne well knowen and vsed in Englande (and yet not therefore an auncient coyne of Englande, as

Hollybande sayethe yt was of France,) emongst the Saxons before, and the Normans after, the Conqueste; the forme whereof I will at other, tyme describe, onlye nowe settinge downe, that this besante (beinge the Frenche name, and in armorye rightlye according to his nature, for a plate of golde,) was called in Latine Byzantium, obteyninge that name because yt was the coyne of Constantinople sometyme called Bizantium; and because you shall not thinke this any fictione of myne owne, I will warrante the same with Williame of Malmesberye in the fourthe booke De Regibus, who hathe these wordes: Constantinopolis primùm Bizantiu dicta. Formam ́antiqui vocabuh preferunt imperatorii nummi Bizantin dicti; where another coppye for nummi Bizantiu hath Bizantini nummi; and the Frenche hath yt lesante or bezantine, makinge yt an olde coyne of France, (when he sholde haue sayed an old coyne in France and not of France,) of the valewe of a duckett.

"FERMENTACOE [fermentation] you expounde dawbinge, whiche cannott anye way be metaphoricallye so vsed in Chaucer, although yt sholde be improperlye or harshlye applied. For fermentacone-ys a peculier terme of Alchymye, deduced from the bakers fermente or levyue. And therefore the chimicall philosophers defyne the fermente to be anima, the sowle or lyfe, of the philosophers stone. Whereunto agreeth Clauiger Bincing, a chimicall author, sayinge; autem vivificatione, id est, fermentacoem, which is before tinctinge, or gyvinge tincture or color; that beinge as muche to saye as gyvinge sowie or lyfe to the philosophers stone, wherby that may fermente

ог