1. 3. The fourthe part. The true explanation of this passage, which Tyrwhitt failed to discover, is due to Mr. A. E. Brae, who first published it in May, 1851, and reprinted it at p. 68 of his edition of Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe. His conclusions were based upon actual calculation, and will be mentioned in due order. In re-editing the 'Astrolabe,' I took the opportunity of roughly checking his calculations by other methods, and am satisfied that he is quite correct, and that the day meant is not the 28th of April, as in the Ellesmere MS., nor the 13th of April, as in the Harleian MS., but the 18th, as in the Hengwrt MS. and most others. It is easily seen that xviii may be corrupted into xxviii by prefixing x, or into xiii by the omission of v; this may account for the variations.

The key to the whole matter is given by a passage in Chaucer's 'Astrolabe,' pt. ii. ch. 29, where it is clear that Chaucer (who, however, merely translates from Messahala) actually confuses the hour-angle with the azimuthal arc; that is, he considered it correct to find the hour of the day by noting the point of the horizon over which the sun appears to stand, and supposing this point to advance, with a uniform, not a variable, motion. The host's method of proceeding was this. Wanting to know the hour, he observed how far the sun had moved southward along the horizon since it rose, and saw that it had gone more than half-way from the point of sunrise to the exact southern point. Now the 18th of April in Chaucer's time answers to the 26th of April at present. On April 26, 1874, the sun rose at 4h. 43m., and set at 7h. 12m., giving a day of about 14h. 30m., the fourth part of which is at 8h. 20m., or, with sufficient exactness, at halfpast eight. This would leave a whole hour and a half to signify Chaucer's 'half an houre and more,' shewing that further explanation is still necessary. The fact is, however, that the host reckoned, as has been said, in another way, viz. by observing the sun's position with reference to the horizon. On April 18 the sun was in the 6th degree of Taurus at that date, as we again learn from Chaucer's treatise. Set this 6th degree of Taurus on the East horizon on a globe, and it is found to be 22 degrees to the North of the East point, or 112 degrees from the South. The half of this is at 56 degrees from the South; and the sun would seem to stand above this 56th degree, as may be seen even upon a globe, at about a quarter past nine; but Mr. Brae has made the calculation, and shews that it was at twenty minutes past nine. This makes Chaucer's half an houre and more' to stand for half an hour and ten minutes; an extremely neat result. But this we can check again by help of the host's other observation. He also took note, that the lengths of a shadow and its object were equal, whence the sun's altitude must have been 45 degrees. Even a globe will shew that the sun's altitude, when in the 6th degree of Taurus, and at 10 o'clock in the morning, is somewhere about 45 or 46 degrees. But Mr. Brae has calculated it exactly, and his result is, that the sun attained its altitude of 45 degrees at two minutes to ten exactly. This is even a closer approximation than we might

expect, and leaves no doubt about the right date being the eighteenth of April. For fuller particulars, see Chaucer on the Astrolabe, ed. Brae, p. 69; and ed. Skeat, p. 1. (preface).

1. 5. Eightetethe, eighteenth. Mr. Wright prints eightetene, with the remark that this is the reading in which the MSS. seem mostly to agree.' This is right in substance, but not critically exact. No such word as eightetene appears in the MSS., which denote the number by an abbreviation, as stated in the foot-note. The Hengwrt MS. has xiijthe, and the Old English for eighteenth must have been eightetethe, the ordinal, not the cardinal number. Though I can give no instance of this very word, its form is easily inferred from the numerous examples in which -teenth is represented by -tethe; see feowertethe, fiftethe, &c. in Stratmann's Old English Dictionary. Eighte is of two syllables, from A.S. eahta, cognate with Lat. octo. Eightetethe has four syllables.

1. 8. As in lengthe, with respect to its length.

1. 13. The astrolabe which Chaucer gave to his little son Lewis was adapted for the latitude of Oxford. If, as is likely, the poet-astronomer checked his statements in this passage by a reference to it, he would neglect the difference in latitude between Oxford and the Canterbury road. In fact, it is less than a quarter of a degree, and not worth considering in the present

case.

1. 14. Gan conclude, did conclude, concluded. Gan is often used thus as an auxiliary verb.

1. 15. Plyghte, plucked; cf. shryghte, shrieked, in Kn. Ta. 1959.—M. 1. 16. Lordinges, sirs. This form of address is exceedingly common in Early English poetry. Cf. the first line in the Tale of Sir Thopas. 1. 18. Seint Iohn. See the Squire's Tale, 1. 596.

1. 19. Leseth, lose ye; note the form of the imperative plural in -eth; cf. 1. 37. As ferforth as ye may, as far as lies in your power.

1. 20. Wasteth, consumeth; cf. wastour, a wasteful person, in P. Plowm. B. vi. 154.-M. Hl. has passeth, i. e. passes away; several MSS. insert it before wasteth, but it is not required by the metre, since the e in time is fully sounded; cf. A.S. tíma. Compare

The time that passeth night and day,

And rest[e]lesse travayleth ay,

And stealeth from us so privyly,

1. 21. What. We now say—what with. It means 'partly owing to.' 1. 22. Wakinge; strictly, it means watching; but here, in our wakinge= whilst we are awake.

1. 23. Cf. Ovid, Art. Amat. iii. 62-65 :—

'Ludite; eunt anni more fluentis aquae.

Nec quae praeteriit, cursu reuocabitur unda:
Nec, quae praeteriit, hora redire potest.

Utendum est aetate; cito pede labitur aetas.'

1. 25. Seneca wrote a treatise De Breuitate Temporis, but this does not contain any passage very much resembling the text. I have no doubt that Chaucer was thinking of a passage which may easily have caught his eye, as being very near the beginning of the first of Seneca's epistles. Quaedam tempora eripiuntur nobis, quaedam subducuntur, quaedam effluunt. Turpissima tamen est iactura, quae per negligentiam fit. Quem mihi dabis, qui aliquod pretium tempori ponat? qui diem aestimet? In huius rei unius fugacis ac lubricae possessionem natura nos misit, ex qua expellit quicumque uult; et tanta stultitia mortalium est, ut, quae minima et uilissima sint, certe reparabilia, imputari sibi, quum impetrauere, patiantur; nemo se iudicet quidquam debere, qui tempus accepit, quum interim hoc unum est, quod ne gratus quidem potest reddere;' Epist. I.; Seneca Lucilio suo.

1. 33. Man of Lawe. This is the 'sergeant of the lawe' described in the Prologue, 11. 309-330. So haue ye blis, so may you obtain bliss; as you hope to reach heaven.

1. 34. As forward is, as is the agreement. See Prologue, 1. 829.

1. 35. Ben submitted, have agreed. This illustrates the common usage of expressing a perfect by the verb to be and the past part. of an intransitive verb. Cf. is went, in l. 1730.-M.

1. 36. At my Iugement, at my decree; ready to do as I bid you. See Prologue, ll. 818 and 833.

1. 37. Acquiteth yow, acquit yourselves, viz. by redeeming your promise. Holdeth your biheste, keep your promise. Acquit means to absolve or free oneself from a debt, obligation, charge, &c.; or to free oneself from the claims of duty, by fulfilling it.

1. 38. Deuoir, duty; see Knightes Tale, l. 1740.

Atte leste, at the least. Atte or atten is common in Old English for at the or at then; the latter is a later form of A.S. at pam, where (then = þam) is the dative case of the article. But for the explanation of peculiar forms and words, the Glossarial Index should be consulted.

1. 39. For ich, Tyrwhitt reads jeo=je, though found in none of our seven MSS. This makes the whole phrase French-de par dieux jeo assente. Mr. Bell suggests that this is a clever hit of Chaucer's, because he makes the Man of Lawe talk in French, with which, as a lawyer, he was very familiar. However, we find elsewhere

'Quod Troilus, "depardieux ich assente";'—

and again—

666

'Depardieux," quod she,

"God leve all be wele ";"

Troilus and Cres. ii. 1058 and 1212.

It is much more to the point to observe that the Man of Lawe talks about law in 1. 43. Cotgrave, in his French Dictionary, under par, gives—' De par Dieu soit, a [i. e. in] God's name be it. De par moy, by my means. De par le roy, by the king's appointment.' De par is a corruption of O. Fr. de part, on the part or side of; so that de par le roy means literally, ‘as for the king,' i. e. 'in the king's name.' Similarly, de par Dieu is in God's name.' See Burguy, Grammaire de la Langue D'oïl, ii. 359. The form dieux is a nominative, from the Latin deus; thus exhibiting an exception to the almost universal law in French, that the substantives are formed from the accusative cases of Latin substantives, as fleur from florem, &c. Other exceptions may be found in some proper names, as Charles, Jacques, from Carolus, Jacobus.

1. 41. In Hazlitt's Old Eng. Plays, i. 137, is the proverb-Yet promise is debt.' Mr. Hazlitt wrongly considers that as the earliest instance of it.-M.

Holde fayn, &c.; gladly perform all my promise.

1. 43. Man... another one... another. The Cambridge MS. is right.-M. 'For whatever law a man imposes on others, he should in justice consider as binding on himself.' This is obviously a quotation, as appears from 1. 45. The expression referred to was probably proverbial. An English proverb says-They that make the laws must not break them'; a Spanish one'El que ley establece, guardarla debe,' he who makes a law ought to keep it; and a Latin one-Patere legem quam ipse tulisti,' abide by the law which you made yourself. The idea is expanded in the following passage from Claudian's Panegyric on the 4th consulship of Honorius, carm. viii., 1. 295

6

In commune iubes si quid censesue tenendum,

Primus iussa subi, tunc obseruantior aequi

Fit populus, nec ferre negat cum uiderit ipsum
Autorem parere sibi.'

1. 45. Text, quotation from an author, precept, saying. Thus wol our text, i. e. such is what the expression implies.

1. 47. But. This reading is given by Tyrwhitt, from MS. Dd. 4. 24 in the Cambridge University Library and two other MSS. All our seven MSS. read That; but this would require the word Nath (hath not) instead of Hath, in l. 49. Chaucer talks about his writings in a similar strain at a still earlier period, in his House of Fame, ii. 112, where Jupiter's eagle says to him :

'And natheless hast set thy wit,
Although in thy head ful lite is,
To make bookes, songes, and dities
In ryme, or elles in cadence,

As thou best canst, in reverence

Of Love, and of his servaunts eke;' &c.

Can but lewedly on metres, is but slightly skilled in metre. Can = knows here; in the line above it is the ordinary auxiliary verb.

1. 54. Ovid is mentioned for two reasons, because he has so many lovestories, and because Chaucer himself borrowed several of his own from Ovid.

Made of mencioun; we should now say-made mention of.

1. 55. Epistolis, Epistles. Here the Latin ablative is used after in, but it is more usual in Old English to quote Latin titles in the genitive case; see note to 1. 93. The book referred to is Ovid's Heroides, which contains twenty-one love-letters. See note to 1. 61.

1. 56. What, why, on what account? cf. Prologue, 184.

1. 57. The story of Ceyx and Alcyone is related in the introduction to the poem which was for some time called "The Dreme of Chaucer," but which, in the MSS. Fairfax 16 and Bodl. 638, is more properly entitled "The Boke of the Duchesse."-Tyrwhitt. Chaucer took it from Ovid's Metamorphoses, bk. xi.

1. 59. Thise is a monosyllable; the final e is only added for distinction.

..

1. 61. The seintes legende of Cupyde; better known now as The Legend of Good Women. Tyrwhitt says 'According to Lydgate (Prologue to Boccace), the number [of good women] was to have been nineteen; and perhaps the Legend itself affords some ground for this notion; see l. 283, and Court of Love, l. 108. But this number was never completed, and the last story, of Hypermestra, is seemingly unfinished. . . . In this passage the Man of Lawe omits two ladies, viz. Cleopatra and Philomela, whose histories are in the Legend; and he enumerates eight others, of whom there are no histories in the Legend as we have it at present. Are we to suppose, that they have been lost?' The Legend contains the nine stories following; 1. Cleopatra ; 2. Thisbe; 3. Dido; 4. Hypsipyle and Medea; 5. Lucretia; 6. Ariadne ; 7. Philomela; 8. Phyllis; 9. Hypermnestra. Of these, Chaucer here mentions, as Tyrwhitt points out, all but two, Cleopatra and Philomela. Before discussing the matter further, let me note that in medieval times, proper names took strange shapes, and the reader must not suppose that the writing of Adriane for Ariadne, for example, is peculiar to Chaucer. The meaning of the other names is as follows:-Lucresse, Lucretia; Babiloin Tisbee, Thisbe of Babylon; Enee, Æneas; Dianire, Deianira; Hermion, Hermione ; Adriane, Ariadne; Isiphilee, Hypsipyle; Leander, Erro, Leander and Hero; Eleyne, Helena; Brixseide, Briseis (acc. Briseïda); Ladomea, Laodamia; Ypermistra, Hypermnestra; Alceste, Alcestis.

Returning to the question of Chaucer's plan for his Legend of Good Women, we may easily conclude what his intention was, though it was never carried out. He intended to write stories concerning nineteen women who were celebrated for being martyrs of love, and to conclude the series by an additional story concerning queen Alcestis, whom he regarded as the best of all the good women. Now, though he does not expressly say who these women