Chaucer had already introduced the seven-line stanza, unknown to his predecessors-the earliest example being the Compleint unto Pite-as well as the eight-line stanza, employed in his earliest extant poem, the A. B. C. For the hint as to this form of verse, he was doubtless indebted in the first instance to French poets, such as Guillaume de Machault, though he afterwards conformed his lines, as regarded their cadence and general laws, to those of Boccaccio and Dante 1. The idea of the heroic couplet was also, I suppose, taken from French; we find it, for example, in a Complainte written by Machault about 1356-8, quoted in my Introduction to the Prioresses Tale, p. xx; but here, again, Chaucer's melody has rather the Italian than the French character. The lines in Froissart's poem on the Daisy are of the same length, but rime together in groups of seven lines at a time, separated by short lines having two accents only. Boccaccio's favourite stanza in the Teseide, known as the ottava rima, ends with two lines that form an heroic couplet 2. It ought to be clearly understood that the introduction of this metre was quite an experiment, for which Chaucer himself offers some apology when he makes the God of Love say expressly :'Make the metres of hem as thee leste' (1. 562). Hence it is that he introduced into the line a variety which is now held to be inadmissible, though we must not forget that even so great a master of melody as Tennyson, after beginning his 'Vision of 1 Ten Brink, Chaucer's Sprache, &c., p. 174. 2 The heroic couplet was practically unknown to us till Chaucer introduced it. The rare examples of it before his time are almost accidental. A lyrical poem printed in Böddeker's Altenglische Dichtungen, p. 232, from MS. Harl. 2253, ends with a fair specimen, and is older than Chaucer. The last two lines are: The oldest single line of this form is at the end of Sawles Warde (ab. A.D. 1210); see Spec. of English, pt. i. p. 95: 'That ich mot iesu crist mi sawle zelden.' Sin' with lines of normal length, begins the second portion of it with the lines : 'Then methought I heard a hollow sound Low voluptuous music winding trembled,' &c. It is precisely this variation that Chaucer sometimes allowed himself, and it is easy to see how it came to pass. In lines of a shorter type we constantly find a similar variation. There are a large number of 'clipped' lines in the House of Fame. Practically, their first foot consists of a single syllable, and they may be scanned accordingly, by marking off that syllable at the beginning. Thus, ll. 2117-2120 run thus :— 'And leet hem gon. Ther might' I seen Wenged wondres faste fleen, Twent ty thousand in a route, As E olus hem blew aboute.' This variation is still admissible, and is, of course, common enough in such poems as Milton's L'Allegro and Il Penseroso. It is considered a beauty. The introduction of two more syllables in lines of the above type gives us a similar variation in the longer line. If, for example, after the word thousand in the third of the above lines, we introduce the word freres (dissyllabic), we obtain the line : 'Twenty thousand freres in a route.' It is a remarkable fact, that this very line actually occurs in the Canterbury Tales ; 1. 7277 (Group D, 1695); as I have pointed out in my note to l. 2119 of the House of Fame (Minor Poems, p. 367). As most persistent efforts are constantly made to deny this fact, to declare it 'impossible,' and to deride me for having pointed it out (as I did in 1866, in Morris's edition of Chaucer, i. 174), it is necessary to say here that there is rather a large number of such lines in the Legend of Good Women; precisely as we might expect to find in a metre which was, in fact, a new experiment. As this will be again denied, unless I present the evidence rather fully, I here cite several of these lines, marking off the first syllable in the right way :— That of all' the flour-es in the me-de'; 41. With her fac' y-wimpled subtilly'; 797. Bothe with her hert' and with her y-ën'; 859. 'Bet | ing with his hel-es on the ground-e'; 863. We that wer-en whylom children your-e'; 901. 'Been as trew' and loving as a man'; 911. 6 Had den in this temple been ov'r-al'; 1024. We that wer-en in prosperitee'; 1030. 'Lyked him the bet, as god do bot-e'; 1076. Fad | er, moder, husbond, al y-fer-e'; 1828. 'Fight |en with this fend, and him defend-e'; 1996. 'Y permistra, yongest of hem all-e'; 2575. It is worth notice that they become scarcer towards the end of the poem. For all that, Chaucer regarded this form of the line as an admissible variety, and Hoccleve and Lydgate followed him in this peculiarity. The practice of Hoccleve and Lydgate is entirely ignored by those to whom it is convenient to ignore it. Perhaps they do not understand it. The usual argument of those who wish to regulate Chaucer's verse according to their own preconceived ideas, is to exclaim against the badness of the MSS. and the stupidity of the scribes. This was tolerably safe before Dr. Furnivall printed his valuable and exact copies of the MSS., but is less safe now. We now have in type eight copies of the MSS., besides a copy of Thynne's first edition of the poem in 1532, making nine authorities in all. Now, as far as this particular matter is concerned, the MSS. show a wonderful unanimity. In ll. 41, 111, 224, 797, 901, 911, 1076, 1187, 1996, there is no variation that affects the scansion. And this means a great deal more than it seems to do at first sight. For the scribes of MSS. A. and T. evidently did not like these lines, and sometimes attempted emendations with all the hardihood of modern editors. For example, MSS. T. and A. begin 1. 67 with the word Suffici-ent, in order to make it four syllables. Unfortunately for them, the form suffisaunt occurs elsewhere, viz. in the Clerkes Tale (E. 960), Man of Lawes Tale (B. 243), and the Pardoneres Tale (C. 932), in the last of which instances it is practically cut down to suff'sant, and thus their ignorance is revealed. So in 1. 245, the scribe of MS. A. turns Half into Half of, but no one supports him. The scribe of MS. T. is equally unsupported in the following attempts :— 'Betyng hys heelys fast opon the grounde'; 863. 'With hyr meyny endlong1 vppon the stronde '; 1498. The fact that the scribes are unwilling witnesses, with a tendency to corrupt the evidence, makes their testimony upon this point all the stronger. Added to which, I here admit that, wherever there seemed to be sufficient evidence, I have so far yielded to popular prejudice as to receive the suggested emendation. I now leave this matter to the consideration of the unprejudiced reader; merely observing, that I believe a considerable number of lines in the Canterbury Tales have been 'emended' in order to get rid of lines of this character, solely on the strength of the Harleian MS., the scribe of which kept a keen look-out, with a view to the suppression of this eccentricity on the part of his author. To give him much encouragement seems inconsistent with strict morality. The general laws of the scansion of Chaucer's lines are sufficiently explained in my Introduction to the Prioresses Tale, pp. liv-lxxiv. The introduction (11. 249–269) of a Balade of 21 lines makes every succeeding couplet end with a line denoted by an odd number. The whole number of lines is 2723. Dr. Furnivall was the first person who succeeded in counting their number correctly. 1 Chaucer's end-e-long is trisyllabic; Kn. Tale, 1133, 1820. DESCRIPTION OF THE MANUSCRIPTS, ETC. The MSS. easily fall into two distinct classes, and may be separated by merely observing the reading of 1. 1396; see note to that line. MSS. C., T., A. here read Guido or Guydo; whilst MSS. F., Tn., B. read Ouyde. MS. P. is here deficient, but commonly agrees with the former class. Those of the same class will be described together. Besides this, MS. C. is, as regards the Prologue only, unique of its kind; and is throughout of the highest authority, notwithstanding some unpleasant peculiarities of spelling. It is necessary to pay special attention to it. The list of the MSS. (including Thynne's edition) is as follows: A. Arch. Selden B. 24; Bodleian Library (First class). They may be thus described. C. (Camb. Univ. Lib. Gg. 4. 27) is the famous Cambridge MS., containing the Canterbury Tales, denoted by the symbol 'Cm.' in my editions of the Prioresses Tale and Man of Lawes Tale; also by the symbol 'Gg.' in my edition of the Minor Poems; see p. xliii of the Preface to that work. It also contains some other pieces by Chaucer, viz. the ABC, Envoy to Scogan, Truth, Troilus, and the Parlement of Foules. It is of early date, and altogether the oldest, best, and most important of the existing copies of the Legend. I shall call all those that resemble it MSS. of the first class. Its great peculiarity is that it possesses the unique copy of the early draught of the Prologue; see above. Upon comparison of it with the Fairfax MS. (the best MS. of the second |