Duchesse (62-230). This 'Cronycle' was printed by Dr. Furnivall in his Odd-texts of Chaucer's Minor Poems, part i. I have now only to record my indebtedness to others, especially to Dr. Furnivall for his invaluable prints in the ParallelTexts; to the valuable essay by M. Bech, in vol. v. of Anglia1; to Mr. Jephson for his notes in 'Bell's' edition; and to the notes in the edition by Professor Corson. Also to Professor Ten Brink, the first part of whose second volume of the Geschichte der englischen Litteratur has just appeared (1889). The Glossary, like that to my edition of the Minor Poems, is almost wholly the work of Mr. C. Sapsworth, Scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge. My own share in it was merely to revise it and verify the references. For further information on points of grammar and metre, the reader is referred to my edition of Chaucer's Prioresses Tale, to Mr. Cromie's Rime-Index to Chaucer, Mr. Ellis's Early English Pronunciation, chap. iv. § 5, and to Ten Brink's Chaucers Sprache und Verskunst (Leipzig, 1884); and for information as to the pronunciation, to Mr. Ellis's remarks in my edition of Chaucer's Man of Lawes Tale, and to Mr. Sweet's Second English Primer. NOTE. If the reader finds the two forms of the Prologue troublesome, he has only to confine his attention to the 'B-text', in the lower part of pp. 1-41. This text agrees with that usually given, and contains 579 lines. The first line of 'Cleopatra' is 1. 580, the numbering being continuous. Besides this, the lines of each Legend are given separately, within marks of parenthesis. Thus 1. 589 is the 10th line of 'Cleopatra'; and so in other cases. 1 This excellent essay investigates Chaucer's sources, and is the best commentary upon the present poem. I had written most of my Notes independently, and had discovered most of his results for myself. This does not diminish my sense of the thoroughness of the essay, and I desire to express fully my acknowledgments to this careful student. I may remark here that Chaucer's obligations to Froissart were long ago pointed out by Tyrwhitt, and that the name Agatho was explained in Cary's Dante. There is very little else that Bech has missed. Perhaps I may put in some claim to the discovery of a sentence taken from Boethius; and to some other points of minor importance. THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN. THE Prologue to this Poem exists in two different versions, which differ widely from each other in many passages. The arrangement of the material is also different. For the sake of clearness, the earlier version is here called 'Text A,' and the later version 'Text B.' 'Text A' exists in one MS. only, but this MS. is of early date and much importance. It is the MS. marked Gg. 4. 27 in the Cambridge University Library, and is here denoted by the letter 'C.' It is the same MS. as that denoted by the abbreviation 'Cm.' in the footnotes to my editions of Chaucer's Prioresses Tale and Man of Lawes Tale. This text is printed in the upper part of the following pages; but, in order to save some repetition, some of the passages that occur in both texts are omitted. Thus lines 7-9 of the A-text are denoted merely by the remark-['The same as B. 7-9], within square brackets. The footnotes give the MS. spellings, where these are amended in the text. 'Text B' is printed in full, and occupies the lower part of the following pages. It follows the Fairfax MS. mainly, which is denoted by 'F.' In many places, the inferior spellings of this MS. are relegated to the footnotes, amended spellings being given in the text. Various readings are given from Tn. (Tanner MS. 346); T. (Trinity MS., R. 3. 19); A. (Arch. Seld. B. 24 in the Bodleian Library); Th. (Thynne's Edition, 1532); B. (Bodley MS. 638); and P. (Pepys MS. 2006); and sometimes from C. (already mentioned). Lines which occur in one text only are marked (in either text) by a prefixed asterisk. Lines marked with a dagger (†) stand the same in both texts, and some of these are omitted in the A-text to save space. The blank space after A. 60 (p. 6) shews that there is nothing in Text A. corresponding to B. 68-72. Where the corresponding matter is transposed to another place, one or other text has a portion printed in smaller type. B The prologe of .ix. goode Wymmen. A THOUSAND Sythes have I herd men telle, +That ther is Ioye in heven, and peyne in helle; And I acorde wel that hit be so; But natheles, this wot I wel also, That ther nis noon that dwelleth in this contree, 5 But goddes forbode, but men shulde leve (B. 10) 10 The prologe of .ix. goode Wymmen. A THOUSAND tymes have I herd men telle, That ther is Ioye in heven, and peyne in helle; And I acorde wel that hit is so; But natheles, yit wot I wel also, That ther nis noon dwelling in this contree, 5 +Ne may of hit non other weyes witen, +But as he hath herd seyd, or founde hit writen ; +For by assay ther may no man hit preve. But god forbede but men shulde leve +Wel more thing then men han seen with yë! +Men shal nat wenen every-thing a lyë But-if him-self hit seeth, or elles doth; ΙΟ |