Imatges de pàgina
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of birth of the person whom it affected. The influences of Venus and Jupiter were for good (see note to Troil. iii. 1417); whilst the influences of Mars and Saturn were evil. See further below.

2585. With is explained by Corson to mean 'by'; and such a sense is, of course, usual and common. For all that, it may here mean 'with.' The sense seems to me to be-'For, though the influence of the planet Venus gave her great beauty, she was (also) so compounded with a share of Jupiter,' &c. It does not make much difference, and the reader can choose.

2588. Thoughte her, it seemed to her.

2589. Rede Mars, red Mars, because the planet is reddish; see note to 1. 533. Cf. Kn. Ta., 1111 (A 1969). As to the bad influence of Mars, compare the following:

'Allas! thou felle Mars!' Kn. Ta. 701 (A 1559).

'Noght was foryeten by the infortune of Marte'; id. 1163 (A 2021). 'By manasyng of Mars'; id. 1177 (A 2035).

. . 'that no wykkid planete, as Saturne or Mars';

Treatise on the Astrolabe, ii. 4. 22 (p. 192, above).

2592. Venus was supposed to have much influence in repressing the evil influence of Mars, on account of their connection in mythology. See the Compleint of Mars. Moreover Mars is here said to be suppressed by 'the oppression of houses'; i. e. by the fact that he was in a house' or 'mansion,' which had such effect. The terms 'house' and 'mansion' are equivalent, and are names given to the signs of the zodiac. Every sign had a planet assigned to it, and was called the 'house' of that planet. When a planet was in its own house, its influence would be felt. The mansions of Mars were Aries and Scorpio. Besides this, each planet had a sign called its 'exaltation,' in which it had the greatest power of all. The 'exaltation' of Mars was Capricornus. Mars had also his positions of least influence; two of these, called his 'fall,' were the signs opposite to his mansions, viz. Libra and Taurus, and the third, called his 'depression,' was the sign opposite his exaltation, viz. Cancer. We may conclude that, at the period of taking Hypermnestra's horoscope, Mars was in Cancer, or else in Taurus or in Libra. Both Taurus and Libra were mansions of Venus; and, if Mars was in either of these, his evil influence would be kept under by her.

2594. Probably the whole of Chaucer's astrological talk was intended to shew why Hypermnestra disliked handling a knife in malice. He has made much of the weak influence of Mars, precisely because those who were born under his influence were very ready with a knife. See the note to the Kn. Ta., 1163 (A 2021), where the Compost of Ptolemeus is quoted to shew that a man born under Mars is apt to be 'a maker of swordes and knyves, and a sheder of mannes blode, . . . and good to be a barboure and a blode-letter, and to draw tethe, and is peryllous of his handes.'

...

2597. 'She had too evil aspects of Saturn, which caused her to die in prison.' All the MSS. have To (=too, excessively), except T., which has Ryght bad. Thynne has Two, but there is no authority for this, nor does it give any sense. The evil influence of Saturn is spoken of at length in the Kn. Tale, 1596-1611 (A 2454-69). Note especially 1. 1599, where Saturn says:

'Myn is the prison in the derke cote,

Myn is the strangling and hanging by the throte.'

2600. Here Egiste (see 1. 2570) is turned into Egistes.

2602. For, at that time, no lineage was spared'; i. e. no consanguinity was considered as being a bar to marriage.

2603. Hem is in apposition with Danao and Egistes; 'it pleased these two.'

2604. Note the shifted accentuation-Ypérmistrá. Chaucer (except in 1. 2660) entirely drops all mention of Hypermnestra's 49 sisters, and of Lynceus' 49 brothers. This is extremely judicious, as it concentrates the interest on the heroine.

2610. Chaucer is here thinking of Ovid, Her. xiv. 25 :—

'Undique collucent praecinctae lampades auro.

Dantur in inuitos impia tura focos.

Uulgus "Hymen, Hymenaee" uocant.'

2624. 'He caused men to call his daughter'; he had his daughter called to him.

2629. 'Ever since the day when my shirt was first shaped for me.' The sense is 'ever since the day of my birth.' The shirt here refers, as Tyrwhitt remarks, to the linen in which a new-born babe is wrapped. See Kn. Ta., 708 (A 1566); and cf. Troil. iii. 733:

'O fatal sustren, which, er any cloth

Me shapen was, my destenee me sponne.'

2630. Supply I before had. Cf. note to 1. 2580.

2634. After thy wyser, according to the advice of thy superior in wisdom.' Cf. 'Thenne doth we as the wise'; O. English Miscellany, ed. Morris, p. 79, 1. 228. And gif yow list nocht wirk eftir the wise'; G. Douglas, tr. of Vergil, Prol. to bk. vi. l. 15.

2637. Read Ne I as N'I. 'Nor would I advise thee to thy harm.' 2640. And, at the same time, I make protestation in this manner, viz. that, unless thou do as I shall direct thee.'

2653. 'I will not have any reservation.'

2655. Y-sene, visible; an adj., not a pp. See l. 1394; and Prol. to Cant. Tales, 592.

2660. Siker, secure. The use of the word is precisely like that in the well-known anecdote of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn. Meeting Bruce at the door of the Greyfriars' Church in Dumfries, he asked what tidings. 'Bad tidings,' answered Bruce, 'I doubt I have slain

Comyn.' 'Doubtest thou?' said Kirkpatrick ; ' I make sicker. With these words, he and Lindsay rushed into the church and despatched the wounded Comyn. See Note K to Scott's Lord of the Isles, c. I. st. 27, c. 2. st. 13.

2661. Biker, quarrel, altercation; also a skirmish, encounter. 2662. By him that I have (already) sworn by.' See 1. 2642.

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2666. Costrel, a flask, a kind of bottle. 'Costred, or costrelle, grete botelle, Onopherum, aristophorum'; Prompt. Parv.; see Way's note. 'A Costrelle, oneferum, &c., vbi a flakett'; Cath. Angl. p. 77; see Herrtage's note. See costa, costarez, costarium, costrelli, in Ducange; and coste, costeret, costerel, in Godefroy. In the Craven dialect, a costril is the little wooden barrel carried by reapers.

2671. 'Lest that the time may seem long to him.' Ovid alludes to the narcotic drink; Her. xiv. 42 :-'quaeque tibi dederam uina, soporis erant.' Cf. Kn. Tale, 614 (A 1472).

2676. The line is too short in most MSS. Unless sone be supplied from MS. T., we shall have to scan the line by putting This (with a strong accent) alone in the first foot. Cf. 1. 2711, and slur over the o in Lino before and.

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2680. Cf. Her. xiv. 44 :—' Erigor, et capio tela tremente manu.' 2681. Accent Zephirus on the i. From Her. xiv. 39 :—

'Utque leui Zephyro graciles uibrantur aristae,

frigida populeas ut quatit aura comas.'

2682. From Her. xiv. 34:-'Securumque quies alta per Argos

erat.'

2683. 'Sanguis abit; mentemque calor corpusque reliquit'; Her. xiv. 37. And, in the next line-' frigida facta.'

2686. Ter male sublato decidit ense manus'; 46.

2690. From Her. xiv. 55, &c. :

'Femina sum et uirgo, natura mitis et annis.

Non faciunt molles ad fera tela manus . . .
Quid mihi cum ferro? Quo bellica tela puellae ?'

2696. And me beshende, and bring myself to ruin, and perish. I know of only one other example of this rare word, viz. the example given by Murray from Cursor Mundi, l. 14838, where the Trinity MS. has: 'Allas! nu has he zu bischent'; alas! now has he ruined you. But it is a perfectly legitimate compound from the M. E. shenden. All former editions give this line wrongly; they omit me, and read 'and be shende,' explained by 'and be destroyed.' Now, in the first place, this will not scan; and secondly, the idea of adding a final e to the pp. beshend (more correctly beshent) is a characteristic commentary on that ignorance of M. E. grammar which is only too common. Yet the final e must needs be added, for ende (in 1. 2697) is essentially dissyllabic. Hence it follows, irresistibly, that shende is not a past participle; and we are driven to see that beshende is the infinitive mood of a compound verb.

2697. Nedes cost, by condition of necessity, i. e. necessarily; see Kn. Ta., 619 (A 1477), and the note.

2700. Supply he before hath; cf. note to l. 2630.

2705. Goter, gutter, channel for water. This is an addition. The original merely has (ll. 77, 78):

'Quaerenti caussam, "Dum nox sinit, effuge," dixi ;

"dum nox atra sinit, tu fugis, ipsa moror."'

2708. Roggeth, shaketh. 'Roggyn, or mevyn, or scogghyn, rokkyn. Agito'; Prompt. Parv. See P. Plowman, B. xvi. 78; and ruggen in Stratmann. Cf. Icel. rugga, to rock a cradle. Prof. Napier tells me that the A. S. roccan, to rock, has been found in a gloss. Bell's edition has the singular and unauthorised reading jeggeth (sic). 2709. The rest of the story seems to be Chaucer's addition. Ovid merely has (11. 83, 84) :—

'Abstrahor a patriis pedibus; raptamque capillis

(haec meruit pietas praemia) carcer habet.'

2710. Doon him bote, given him assistance.

2715. Her cruel father caused her to be seized,' lit. caused (men) to seize her.

2723. 'This tale is told for the following reason.' And here the MSS. break off, in the middle of the sentence.

NOTES

TO THE

TREATISE ON THE ASTROLABE.

THE title 'Tractatus de Conclusionibus Astrolabii' is suggested by the wording of the colophon on p. 223. But a better title is, simply, 'Tractatus de Astrolabio,' or 'Treatise on the Astrolabe,' as the 'Conclusiones' only occupy the Second Part of the work; see p. 188. Indeed MS. F. has 'Tractatus Astrolabii'; see p. 233. MSS. B. and E. have the singular title-' Bred and mylk for childeren.'

PROLOGUE, 1. 1. Lowis was at this time (1391) ten years old (see 1. 18); he was therefore born in 1381, whence it is possible that his mother was the Cecilia de Chaumpaigne who, on May 1, 1380, released the poet from all liability de raptu meo. This is, of course, a mere conjecture. Probably Lowis died young, as nothing more is known concerning him.

5. philosofre; possibly Cicero. Haec igitur prima lex amicitiae sanciatur, ut . . amicorum causâ honesta faciamus'; Lælius, cap. xiii. 7. suffisaunt, sufficiently good. In the best instruments, the Almicanteras, or circles of altitude, were drawn at distances of one degree only; in less-carefully made instruments, they were drawn at distances of two degrees. The one given to his son by Chaucer was one of the latter; see Part I, sect. 18, 1. 8.

10. a certein, i. e. a certain number; but the word nombre need not be repeated; cf. a certein holes, Pt. I. sect. 13, 1. 2, and see the very expression in the Milleres Tale, 1. 7 (A 3193).

21. suffyse, let them suffice.

32. Repeated from Ho. Fame, 861-2, q. v.

62. 'Nicolaus de Lynna, i. e. of Lynn, in Norfolk, was a noted astrologer in the reign of Edward III., and was himself a writer of a treatise on the Astrolabe. See Bale-who mentions "Joannes Sombe" as the collaborateur of Nicolaus -"Istos ob eruditionem multiplicem, non vulgaribus in suo Astrolabio celebrat laudibus Galfridus Chaucer poeta lepidissimus;" BALE (edit. 1548), p. 152.'-Note by Mr. Brae, p. 21 of his edition of the Astrolabe.

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