738. That practically goes with hit falleth doun, in l. 741. The sentence is ill-constructed, and not consistent with grammar, but we see what is meant.

742. By, with reference to (as usual in M. E). Cf. Dante, Purg. xviii. 28, which Cary thus translates:—

745. At his large, unrestrained, free to move. Cf. at thy large, Cant. Ta., A 1283, 1292.

746. Charge, a heavy weight, opposed to light thing. The verb seke is understood from l. 744. 'A light thing (seeks to go) up, and a weight (tends) downwards.' In Tyrwhitt's glossary, the word charge, in this passage, is described as being a verb, with the sense 'to weigh, to incline on account of weight.' How this can be made to suit the context, I cannot understand. Charge occurs as a sb. several times in Chaucer, but chiefly with the secondary sense of 'importance'; see Kn. Tale, A 1284, 2287; Can. Yem. Ta., G 749. In the Clerkes Tale, E 163, it means 'weight,' nearly as here.

750. Skilles, reasons. The above 'reasons' prove nothing whatever as regards the fish in the sea, or the trees in the earth; but the eagle's mode of reasoning must not be too closely enquired into. The fault is not Chaucer's, but arises from the extremely imperfect state of science in the middle ages. Chaucer had to accept the usual account of the four elements, disposed, according to their weight, in four layers; earth being at the bottom, then water, then air, and lastly fire above the air. See the whole scheme in Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. vii.; ed. Pauli, ii. 104: or Popular Treatises on Science, ed. Wright, p. 134.

752. See Chaucer's tr. of Boethius, bk. iii. pr. 11, l. 72. Hence Boethius is one of the 'clerkes' referred to in l. 760.

759. Dante mentions these two; Inf. iv. 131-4.

765. So also in Cant. Tales, D 2233:—

The theory of sound is treated of in Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Naturale, lib. iv. c. 14. The ancients seem to have understood that sound is due to the vibration of the air; see ll. 775, 779. Thus, in the treatise by Boethius, De Musica (to which Chaucer expressly refers in Non. Preest. Tale, B 4484), lib. i. c. 3, I find:—'Sonus vero præter quendam pulsum percussionemque non redditur.... Idcirco definitur sonus, aeris percussio indissoluta usque ad auditum.'

788. Experience, i.e. experiment. The illustration is a good one; I have no doubt that it is obtained, directly or at secondhand, from Boethius. Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. Nat. lib. xxv. c. 58, says:—'Ad quod demonstrandum inducit idem Boetius tale exemplum: Lapis proiectus in medio stagni facit breuissimum circulum, et ille alium, et hoc fit donec vel ad ripas peruenerit vel impetus defecerit.' This merely gives the substance of what he says; it will be of interest to quote the original passage, from the treatise De Musica, lib. i. c. 14, which chapter I quote in full:—

'Nunc quis modus sit audiendi disseramus. Tale enim quiddam fieri consuevit in uocibus, quale cum paludibus uel quietis aquis iactum eminus mergitur saxum. Prius enim in paruissimum orbem undam colligit, deinde maioribus orbibus, undarum globos spargit, atque eo usque dum fatigatus motus ab eliciendis fluctibus conquiescat. Semperque posterior et maior undula pulsu debiliori diffunditur. Quod si quid sit, quod crescentes undulas possit offendere, statim motus ille reuertitur, et quasi ad centrum, unde profectus fuerat, eisdem undulis rotundatur. Ita igitur cum aer pulsus fecerit sonum, pellit alium proximum, et quodammodo rotundum fluctum aeris ciet. Itaque diffunditur et omnium circunstantium (sic) simul ferit auditum, atque illi est obscurior uox, qui longius steterit, quoniam ad eum debilior pulsi aeris unda peruenit.'

792. Covercle, a pot-lid. Cotgrave cites the proverb—'Tel pot tel couvercle, Such pot, such potlid, like master, like man.'

794. Wheel must have been glossed by cercle (circle) in an early copy; hence MSS. F. and B. have the reading—'That whele sercle wol cause another whele,' where the gloss has crept into the text.

798. Roundel, a very small circle; compas, a very large circle. Roundel is still a general term for a small circular charge in heraldry; if or (golden), it is called a bezant; if argent (white), it is called a plate; and so on. In the Sec. Non. Tale, G 45, compas includes the whole world.

801. Multiplying, increasing in size.

805. 'Where you do not observe the motion above, it is still going on underneath.' This seems to allude to some false notion as to a transmission of motion below the surface.

808. This is an easy way of getting over a difficulty. It is no easy task to prove the contrary of every false theory!

811. An air aboute, i.e. a surrounding layer, or hollow sphere, of air.

822. I would rather 'take it in game'; and so I accept it.

826. Fele, experience, understand by experiment.

827. I here take the considerable liberty of reading the mansioun, by comparison with l. 831. Those who prefer to read sum place stide, or som styde, or some stede, can do so! The sense intended is obviously—'And that the dwelling-place, to which each thing is inclined to resort, has its own natural stead,' i.e. position. Fishes, for example, naturally exist in water; the trees, upon the earth; and sounds, in the air; water, earth, air, and fire being the four 'elements.' Cf. the phrase—'to be in his element.'

836. Out of, i.e. not in; answering to l. 838.

846. Referring to Ovid's description, Met. xii. 39, 40.

I suspect that Ovid's triplicis confinia mundi is the origin of Chaucer's phrase tryne compas, in Sec. Non. Tale, G 45.

857. The 'terms of philosophy' are all fully and remorselessly given by Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. vii.

861. It is remarkable that Chaucer, some years later, repeated almost the same thing in the Prologue to his Treatise on the Astrolabe, in somewhat different words, viz. 'curious endyting and hard sentence is full hevy atones for swich a child to lerne'; l. 32.

866. Lewedly, in unlearned fashion; in his Astrolabe, l. 43, Chaucer says he is 'but a lewd compilatour of the labour of olde Astrologiens.'

868. The eagle characteristically says that his reasons are so 'palpable,' that they can be shaken by the bills, as men shake others by the hand. It is perhaps worth adding that the word bill was too vulgar and familiar to be applied to a hawk, which had only a beak (the French term, whereas bill is the A.S. bile). 'Ye shall say, this hauke has a large beke, or a shortt beke; and call it not bille'; Book of St. Alban's, fol. a 6, back. The eagle purposely employs the more familiar term.

873. Chaucer meekly allows that the eagle's explanation is a likely one. He was not in a comfortable position for contradiction in argument, and so took a wiser course. The eagle resents this mild admission, and says he will soon find out the truth, 'top, and tail, and every bit.' He then eases his mind by soaring 'upper,' resumes his good temper, and proposes to speak 'all of game.'

888. Cf. Dante, Par. xxii. 128, which Cary thus translates:

900. Unethes, with difficulty; because large animals could only just be discerned. The graphic touches here are excellent.

901. Rivér-es, with accent on the former e (pronounced as a in bare). Cf. Ital. riviera.

907. Prikke, a point. 'Al the environinge of the erthe aboute ne halt nat but the resoun of a prikke at regard of the greetnesse of hevene'; tr. of Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 7. 17.

See also Parl. Foules, 57, 58; and note that the above passage from Troilus is copied from the Teseide (xi. 2).

915. The note in Gilman's Chaucer as to Alexander's dreams is entirely beside the mark. The word dreme (l. 917) refers to Scipio only. The reference is to the wonderful mode in which Alexander contrived to soar in the air in a car upborne by four gigantic griffins.

Macedo, the Macedonian.

916. King, kingly hero; not king in the strict sense. Dan Scipio, lord Scipio. See notes to Parl. Foules, 29; Book of the Duch. 284; Ho. Fame, 514.

917. At point devys, with great exactness; see Rom. Rose, 830, 1215.

919. Dedalus (i.e. Dædalus) and Ycarus (Icarus) are mentioned in the Rom. de la Rose, 5242; and cf. Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. iv., ed. Pauli, ii. 36; and Dante, Inf. xvii. 109. All take the story from Ovid, Metam. viii. 183. Dædalus constructed wings for himself and his son Icarus, and flew away from Crete. The latter flew too high, and the sun melted the wax with which some of the feathers were fastened, so that he fell into the sea and was drowned. Hence Dædalus is here called wrecche, i.e. miserable, because he lost his son; and Icarus nyce, i.e. foolish, because he disobeyed his father's advice, not to fly too high.

922. Malt, melted. Gower has the same word in the same story; ed. Pauli, ii. 37.

925. Cf. Dante, Par. xxii. 19, which Cary thus translates:

930. See note to l. 986 below, where the original passage is given.

931. This line seems to refer solely to the word citizein in l. 930. The note in Bell's Chaucer says: 'This appears to be an allusion to Plato's Republic.' But it was probably suggested by the word respublica in Alanus (see note to l. 986).

932. Eyrish bestes, aerial animals; alluding to the signs of the zodiac, such as the Ram, Bull, Lion, Goat, Crab, Scorpion, &c.; and to other constellations, such as the Great Bear, Eagle, Swan, Pegasus, &c. Chaucer himself explains that the 'zodiak is cleped the cercle of the signes, or the cercle of the bestes; for zodia in langage of Greek sowneth bestes in Latin tonge'; Astrolabe, Part 1, § 21, 1. 37. Cf. 'beasts' in Rev. iv. 6. The phrase recurs in l. 965 below; see also ll. 1003-7.

934. Goon, march along, walk on, like the Ram or Bull; flee, fly like the Eagle or Swan. He alludes to the apparent revolution of the heavens round the earth.

936. Galaxye, galaxy, or milky way, formed by streaks of closely crowded stars; already mentioned in the Parl. of Foules, 56; see note to the same, l. 50. Cary, in a note to Dante, Parad. xxv. 18, says that Dante, in the Convito, p. 74, speaks of la galassia—'the galaxy, that is, the white circle which the common people call the way of St. James'; on which Biscioni remarks:—'The common people formerly considered the milky way as a sign by night to pilgrims, who were going to St. James of Galicia; and this perhaps arose from the resemblance of the word galaxy to Galicia; [which may be doubted]. I have often,' he adds, 'heard women and peasants call it the Roman road, la strada di Roma.'

The fact is simply, that the Milky Way looks like a sort of road or street; hence the Lat. name uia lactea, as in Ovid, Metam. i. 168. Hence also the Roman peasants called it strada di Roma; the pilgrims to Spain called it the road to Santiago (Quarterly Review, Oct. 1873, p. 464); and the English called it the Walsingham way, owing to this being a route much frequented by pilgrims, or else Watling-street, which was a famous old road, and probably ran (not as usually said, from Kent to Cardigan Bay, but) from Kent to the Frith of Forth; see Annals of England, p. 6. The name of Vatlant Streit (Watling Street) is given to the milky way in the Complaint of Scotland, ed. Murray, p. 58; and G. Douglas calls it Watling Streit in his translation of Vergil, Æn. iii. 516, though there is no mention of it in the original; see Small's edition of the Works of G. Douglas, vol. ii. p. 151. And again, it is called Wadlyng Strete in Henrysoun's Traite of Orpheus; see Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary. So also: 'Galaxia, that is Watling-Strete'; Batman on Bartholome, lib. viii. c. 33. See my note to P. Plowman, C. i. 52; Florence of Worcester, sub anno 1013; Laws of Edward the Confessor, cap. 12; Towneley Myst., p. 308; Cutts, Scenes, &c. of the Middle Ages, p. 178; Grimm's Mythology, tr. by Stallybras, i. 357.

942. Gower also relates this story (Conf. Amant. ii. 34), calling the sun Phebus, and his son Pheton, and using carte in the sense of 'chariot,' as Chaucer does. Both copy from Ovid, Metam. ii. 32-328.

944. Cart-hors, chariot-horses (plural). There were four horses, named Pyroeïs, Eous, Aethon, and Phlegon; Met. ii. 153. Hence gonne and beren are in the plural form; cf. l. 952.

948. Scorpioun, the well-known zodiacal constellation and sign; called Scorpius in Ovid, Met. ii. 196.

972. Boece, Boethius. He refers to the passage which he himself thus translates: 'I have, forsothe, swifte fetheres that surmounten the heighte of the hevene. Whan the swifte thought hath clothed it-self in tho fetheres, it dispyseth the hateful erthes, and surmounteth the roundnesse of the greet ayr; and it seeth the cloudes behinde his bak'; bk. iv. met. 1. Hence, in l. 973, Ten Brink (Studien, p. 186) proposes to read—'That wryteth, Thought may flee so hye.'

981, 2. Imitated from 2 Cor. xii. 2.

985. Marcian. Cf. C. T., E 1732 (March. Tale):—

Martianus Minneus Felix Capella was a satirist of the fifth century, and wrote the Nuptials of Mercury and Philology, De Nuptiis inter Mercurium et Philologiam, above referred to. It consists of two books, followed by seven books on the Seven Sciences; see Warton's Hist. E. Poetry, ed. 1871, iii. 77. 'Book viii (l. 857) gives a hint of the true system of astronomy. It is quoted by Copernicus'; Gilman.

986. Anteclaudian. The Anticlaudianus is a Latin poem by Alanus de Insulis, who also wrote the De Planctu Naturæ, alluded to in the Parl. of Foules, 316 (see note). This poem is printed in Anglo-Latin Satirical Poets, ed. Wright, pp. 268 428; see, in particular, Distinctio Quarta, capp. 5-8, and Distinctio Quinta, cap. 1; pp. 338-347. It is from this poem that Chaucer probably borrowed the curious word citizein (l. 930) as applied to the eyrish bestes (l. 932). Thus, at pp. 338, 360 of Wright's edition, we find—

So again, ll. 966-969 above may well have been suggested by these lines (on p. 340), and other similar lines:—

1003. Or him or here, or him or her, hero or heroine; e.g. Hercules, Perseus, Cepheus, Orion; Andromeda, Callisto (the Great Bear), Cassiopeia. Cf. Man of Lawes Tale, B 460.

1004. Raven, the constellation Corvus; see Ovid, Fasti, ii. 243-266. Either bere; Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

1005. Ariones harpe, Arion's harp, the constellation Lyra; Ovid's Fasti, i. 316; ii. 76.

1006. Castor, Pollux; Castor and Pollux; the constellation Gemini. Delphyn, Lat. Delphin; the constellation Delphin (Ovid, Fasti, i. 457) or Delphinus, the Dolphin.

1007. Atlante does not mean Atalanta, but represents Atlante, the ablative case of Atlas. Chaucer has mistaken the form, having taken the story of the Pleiades (the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione) from Ovid's Fasti, v. 83:—

1021. Up the heed, up with your head; look about you.

1022. 'St. Julian (to our speed); lo! (here is) a good hostelry.' The eagle invokes or praises St. Julian, because they have come to their journey's end, and the poet may hope for a good reception in the House of Fame. St. Julian was the patron saint of hospitality; see Chaucer's Prologue, 340. In Le Roman de la Rose, 8872, I find (cf. note to l. 118 above):—

In Bell's Chaucer, i. 92, is the following: '"Ce fut celluy Julien qui est requis de ceux qui cheminent pour avoir bon hostel"; Legende Dorée. Having by mischance slain his father and mother, as a penance he established a hospital near a dangerous ford, where he lodged and fed travellers gratuitously.'

See Tale xviii. in the Gesta Romanorum, in Swan's Translation; Caxton's Golden Legende; and the Metrical Lives of Saints in MS. Bodley 1596, fol. 4, 'I pray God and St. Julian to send me a good lodging at night'; translation of Boccaccio, Decam. Second Day, nov. 2; quoted in Swan's tr. of Gesta Romanorum, p. 372. See Warton, Hist. Eng. Poet., ed. Hazlitt, i. 247; ii. 58.

1024. 'Canst thou not hear that which I hear?'

1034. Peter! By St. Peter; a common exclamation, which Warton amazingly misunderstood, asserting that Chaucer is here addressed by the name of Peter (Hist. E. P., ed. Hazlitt, ii. 331, note 6); whereas it is Chaucer himself who uses the exclamation. The Wyf of Bathe uses it also, C. T., D 446; so does the Sumpnour, C. T., D 1332; and the wife in the Shipman's Tale, C. T., B 1404; and see l. 2000 below. See also my note to l. 665 of the Canon's Yeoman's Tale. But Warton well compares the present passage with Ovid, Met. xii. 49-52:—

1044. Beten, beat, occurs in MSS. F. and B. But the other reading byten (bite) seems better. Cf. Troil. iii. 737, and the common saying 'It won't bite you.'

1048. Cf. Dante, Purg. iii. 67-69. So also Inf. xxxi. 83.

1063. Lyves body, a person alive; lyves is properly an adverb.

1066. Seynte; see note to l. 573. Seynte Clare, Saint Clara, usually Saint Clare, whose day is Aug. 12. She was an abbess, a disciple of St. Francis, and died A.D. 1253.

BOOK III.

1091-1109. Imitated from Dante, Parad. i. 13-27. Compare ll. 1106, 1107, with Cary's translation—

And compare l. 1109 with—'Entra nel petto mio.'

1098. This shews that Chaucer occasionally, and intentionally, gives a syllable too little to the verse. In fact, he does so just below, in l. 1106; where Thou forms the first foot of the verse, instead of So thou, or And thou. This failure of the first syllable is common throughout the poem.

1099. And that, i.e. And though that; see l. 1098.

1109. Entreth is the imperative plural; see note to A. B. C. 17.

1114. MSS. cite, cyte (F. citee!); but site in Astrol. pt. ii. 17. 25 (p. 201).

1116. 'Fama tenet, summaque domum sibi legit in arce'; Ovid, Met. xii. 43. Cf. Dante, Purg. iii. 46-48; also Ovid, Met. ii. 1-5.

1131. 'And swoor hir ooth by Seint Thomas of Kent'; C. T., A 3291. It alludes to the celebrated shrine of Beket at Canterbury.

1136. Half, side; al the half, all the side of the hill which he was ascending, which we find was the south side (l. 1152).

1152. This suggests that Chaucer, in his travels, had observed a snow-clad mountain; the snow lies much lower on the north side than on the south side; see ll. 1160 (which means that it, i.e. the writing, was preserved by the shade of a castle), 1163, 1164.

1159. What hit made, what caused it, what was the cause of it.

1167-80. This passage somewhat resembles one in Dante, Par. i. 4-12.

1177. Craft, art; cast, plan. Craft, in the MSS., has slipt into l. 1178.

1183. Gyle, Giles; St. Ægidius. His day is Sept. 1; see note to Can. Yem. Tale, G 1185, where the phrase by seint Gyle recurs.

1189. Babewinnes is certainly meant; it is the pl. of babewin (O. Fr. babuin, Low Lat. babewynus, F. babouin), now spelt baboon. It was particularly used of a grotesque figure employed in architectural decoration, as in Early Eng. Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, B. 1411, where the pl. form is spelt baboynes, and in Lydgate, Chron. Troy, II. xi; both passages are given in Murray's Dict., s.v. Baboon. 'Babewyn, or babewen, detippus, ipos, figmentum, chimera'; Prompt. Parv. 'Babwyne, beest, baboyn'; Palsgrave. In Shak. Macb. iv. 1. 37—'Coole it with a báboones blood'—the accent on the a is preserved. The other spellings are inferior or false.

1192. Falle, pres. pl., fall; (or perhaps fallen, the past participle).

1194. Habitacles, niches; such as those which hold images of saints on the buttresses and pinnacles of our cathedrals. They are described as being al withoute, all on the outside.

1196. Ful the castel, the castle (being) full, on all sides. This line is parenthetical.

1197. Understand Somme, some, as nom. to stoden. 'In which stood ... (some) of every kind of minstrels.' So in l. 1239. As to minstrels, &c., see note to Sir Topas (B 2035).

1203. Orpheus, the celebrated minstrel, whose story is in Ovid, Met. x. 1-85; xi. 1-66. Chaucer again mentions him in C. T., E 1716; and in Troil. iv. 791.

1205. Orion; so in all the copies; put for Arion. His story is in Ovid, Fasti, ii. 79-118.

Spelt Arione in Gower, Conf. Amant. (end of prologue), ed. Pauli, i. 39. We might read Arion here; see l. 1005.

1206. Chiron; called Chiro in Gower, C. A. ii. 67 (bk. iv). Chiron, the centaur, was the tutor of Achilles; and Achilles, being the grandson of Æacus, was called Æacides; Ovid, Met. xii. 82; Fasti, v. 390. Hence Eacides is here in the genitive case; and Eacides Chiron means 'Achilles' Chiron,' i.e. Chiron, tutor of Achilles. In fact, the phrase is copied from Ovid's Æacidæ Chiron, Art of Love, i. 17. Another name for Chiron is Phillyrides; Ovid, Art of Love, i. 11; or Philyrides; Verg. Georg. iii. 550; cf. Ovid, Fasti, v. 391. In a similar way, Chaucer calls the paladin Oliver, friend of Charles the Great, by the name of Charles Olyuer; Monkes Tale, B 3577.

1208. Bret, Briton, one of the British. This form is quite correct, being the A.S. Bret, a Briton (see A.S. Chronicle, an. 491), commonly used in the pl. Brettas. This correct spelling occurs in MS. B. only; MS. P. turns it into Bretur, Th. and Cx. read Briton, whilst MS. F. turns Bret into gret, by altering the first letter. The forms gret and Bretur are clearly corruptions, whilst Briton spoils the scansion.

Glascurion; the same as Glasgerion, concerning whom see the Ballad in the Percy Folio MS., ed. Hales and Furnivall, i. 246. Of this 'a traditional version, under the name of Glenkindie, a various form of Glasgerion, is given in Jamieson's Popular Songs and Ballads, and in Alex. Laing's Thistle of Scotland (1823).' G. Douglas associates 'Glaskeriane' with Orpheus in his Palice of Honour, bk. i. (ed. Small, i. 21); this poem is a palpable imitation of Chaucer's House of Fame. The name is Celtic, as the epithet Bret implies. Cf. Irish and Welsh glas, pale.

1213. 'Or as art imitates nature.' Imitated from Le Rom. de la Rose, where Art asks Nature to teach her; l. 16233 is—

1218. There is a similar list of musical instruments in Le Rom. de la Rose, 21285-21308:—

And in Le Remède de Fortune, by G. de Machault, 1849, p. 87, is a similar long list:—

And a few lines below there is mention of the muse de blez (see note to l. 1224). Warton, Hist. E. Poet., ed. Hazlitt, iii. 177. quotes a similar passage from Lydgate's poem entitled Reason and Sensualite, ending with—

Cf. also Spenser, F. Q. vi. 9, 5; Shep. Kal. Feb. 35-40. In the latter passage, the imitation of ll. 1224-6 is obvious. Cornemuse is a bagpipe; shalmye is a shawm, which was a wind-instrument, being derived from Lat. calamus, a reed; Chaucer classes both instruments under pipe. Willert (on the House of Fame, p. 36) suggests (and, I think, correctly) that doucet and rede are both adjectival. Thus doucet would refer to pipe; cf. 'Doucet, dulcet, pretty and sweet, or, a little sweet'; Cotgrave. Rede would also refer to pipe, and would mean 'made with a reed.' A reed-instrument is one 'in which the sound was produced by the vibration of a reed, as in the clarionet or hautboys'; note in Bell's Chaucer. There is no instrument properly called a doucet in Old French, but only dousainne (see above) and doucine (Godefroy).

1222. Brede, roast meat; A.S. brǽde, glossed by 'assura, vel assatura' in Ælfric's Glossary, ed. Wülcker, col. 127, l. 17. Cf. G. Braten. Not elsewhere in Chaucer, but found in other authors.

In the allit. Morte Arthure, it occurs no less than five times. Also in Havelok, l. 98, where the interpretation 'bread' is wrong. Also in Altenglische Dichtungen, ed. Böddeker, p. 146, l. 47—'Cud as Cradoc in court that carf the brede,' i.e. carved the roast meat; but the glossary does not explain it. The scribe of MS. F. turns brede into bride, regardless of the rime. I cannot agree with the wholly groundless conjecture of Willert, who reads rude in l. 1221, in order to force brude into the text. For minstrelsy at feasts, see C. T., A 2197.

1223. Cf. G. Douglas, tr. of Vergil, Æn. vii. 513, 4:—'And in ane bowand horne, at hir awyne will, A feindlych hellis voce scho lyltis schyll.'

1224. Alluding to the simple pipes fashioned by rustics. The glossary to Machault's Works (1849) has: 'Muse de blez, chalumeau fait avec des brins de paille.' The O.F. estive, in the quotation in the note to l. 1218, has a like sense. Godefroy has: 'estive, espèce de flûte, de flageolet ou pipeau rustique, qui venait, ce semble, de Cornouaille.' Cf. the term corne-pipe, in the Complaint of Scotland, ed. Murray, p. 65, l. 22; also my note to R. Rose, 4250 (vol. i. p. 436).

1227-8. Nothing is known as to Atiteris (or Cytherus); nor as to Pseustis (or Proserus). The forms are doubtless corrupt; famous musicians or poets seem to have been intended. I shall venture, however, to record my guess, that Atiteris represents Tyrtaeus, and that Pseustis is meant for Thespis. Both are mentioned by Horace (Ars Poet. 276, 402); and Thespis was a native of Attica, whose plays were acted at Athens. Another guess is that Atiteris means Vergil's Tityrus; Athenæum, Apr. 13, 1889. Willert suggests that there is here an allusion to the so-called Ecloga Theoduli, a Latin poem of the seventh or eighth century, wherein the shepherd Pseustis and the shepherdess Alithia [who represent Falsehood and Truth] contend about heathendom and Christianity; and Pseustis adduces various myths and tales, from Ovid, Vergil, and Statius. He refers us to H. Dunger, Die Sage v. troj. Kriege in den Bearbeitungen des Mittelalters: Dresden, 1869, p. 76; cf. Leyser, Hist. Poet. Medii Aevi, p. 295. This only accounts for Pseustis; Atiteris can hardly be Alithia.

1229. This is a curious example of how names are corrupted. Marcia is Dante's Marsia, mentioned in the very passage which Chaucer partly imitates in ll. 1091-1109 above. Dante addresses Apollo in the words—

As Chaucer had here nothing to guide him to the gender of Marsia, he guessed the name to be feminine, from its termination; and Dante actually has Marzia (Inf. iv. 128), with reference to Marcia, wife of Cato. But Dante's Marsia represents the accus. case of Marsyas, or else the Lat. nom. Marsya, which also occurs. Ovid, Met. vi. 400, has 'Marsya nomen habet,' and tells the story. Apollo defeated the satyr Marsyas in a trial of musical skill, and afterwards flayed him alive; so that he 'lost his skin.'

1231. Envyën (accent on y), vie with, challenge (at a sport). So strong is the accent on the y, that the word has been reduced in E. to the clipped form 'vie; see Vie in my Etym. Dict. It represents Lat. inuitare, to challenge; and has nothing to do with E. envy. Florio's Ital. Dict. has: 'Inuito, a vie at play, a vie at any game; also an inuiting.'

1234. 'Pipers of every Dutch (German) tongue.'

1236. Reyes, round dances, dances in a ring. The term is Dutch. Hexham's Du. Dict. (1658), has: een Rey, or een Reye, a Daunce, or a round Daunce'; and 'reyen, to Daunce, or to lead a Daunce.' Cf. G. Reihen, a dance, Reihentanz, a circular dance; M.H.G. reie, reige; which does not seem to be connected, as might be thought, with G. Reihe, a row; see Kluge and Weigand. Perhaps the Du. word was borrowed from O.F. rei, roi, order, whence also the syllable -ray in E. ar-ray; and the G. word may have been borrowed from the Dutch; but this is a guess. 'I can daunce the raye'; Barclay's First Egloge, sig. A ii. ed. 1570; quoted in Dyce's Skelton, ii. 194.

1239. Understand Somme, some; see note to l. 1197. The expression blody soun recurs in Kn. Tale, A 2512, in connection with trumpe and clarioun. Our author explains his meaning here; ll. 1241-2.

1243. Missenus, Misenus, son of Æolus, trumpeter to Hector, and subsequently to Æneas; Verg. Æn. iii. 239; vi. 162-170.

1245. Joab and Theodomas are again mentioned together in a like passage in the Merch. Tale (C. T., E 1719). 'Joab blew a trumpet'; 2 Sam. ii. 28; xviii. 16; xx. 22. Theodomas is said by Chaucer (Merch. Tale) to have blown a trumpet 'At Thebes, when the citee was in doute.' He was therefore a trumpeter mentioned in some legendary history of Thebes. With this hint, it is easy to identify him with Thiodamas, mentioned in books viii. and x. of the Thebaid of Statius. He succeeded Amphiaraus as augur, and furiously excited the besiegers to attack Thebes. His invocation was succeeded by a great sound of trumpets (Theb. viii. 343), to which Chaucer here refers. But Statius does not expressly say that Thiodamas blew a trumpet himself.

1248. Cataloigne and Aragon, Catalonia and Arragon, in Spain, immediately to the S. of the Pyrenees. Warton remarks: 'The martial musicians of English tournaments, so celebrated in story, were a more natural and obvious allusion for an English poet'; Hist. E. P. ii. 331. The remark is, I think, entirely out of place. Chaucer is purposely taking a wide range; and, after mentioning even the pipers of the Dutch tongue, as well as Joab of Judæa and Thiodamas of Thebes, is quite consistent in mentioning the musicians of Spain.

1257. Repeated, at greater length, in C. T., Group B, ll. 19-28; see note to that passage.

1259. Iogelours, jugglers. See Squi. Tale, F 219.

1260. Tregetours; see C. T., F 1141, on which Tyrwhitt has a long note. A jogelour was one who amused people, either by playing, singing, dancing, or tricks requiring sleight of hand; a tregetour was one who brought about elaborate illusions, by the help of machinery or mechanical contrivance. Thus Chaucer tells us (in the Frank. Tale, as above) that tregetoures even caused to appear, in a dining-hall, a barge floating in water, or what seemed like a lion, or a vine with grapes upon it, or a castle built of lime and stone; which vanished at their pleasure. Sir John Maundeville, in his Travels, ch. 22, declares that the 'enchanters' of the Grand Khan could turn day into night, or cause visions of damsels dancing or carrying cups of gold, or of knights justing; 'and many other thinges thei don, be craft of hire Enchauntementes; that it is marveyle for to see.' See note to l. 1277 below. Gawain Douglas imitates this passage in his Palice of Honour; see his Works, ed. Small, i. 65.

1261. Phitonesses, pythonesses. The witch of Endor is called a phitonesse in the Freres Tale, C. T., D 1510; and in Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. iv, ed. Pauli, ii. 66; in Barbour's Bruce, ed. Skeat, iv. 753; and in Skelton's Phyllyp Sparowe, 1345. The Vulgate version has mulier pythonem habens, 1 Sam. xxviii. 7 (cf. Acts xvi. 16); but also the very word pythonissam in 1 Chron. x. 13, where the witch of Endor is again referred to. Ducange notices phitonissa as another spelling of pythonissa.

1266. Cf. Chaucer's Prologue, 417-420. There is a parallel passage in Dante, Inf. xx. 116-123, where the word imago occurs in the sense of 'waxen image.' This of course refers to the practice of sticking needles into a waxen image, with the supposed effect of injuring the person represented. See Ovid, Heroid. vi. 91, and Ben Jonson's Masque of Queens (3rd Charm). But this is only a particular case of a much more general principle. Images of men or animals (or even of the things representing the zodiacal signs) could be made of various substances, according to the effect intended; and by proper treatment were supposed to cause good or evil to the patient, as required. Much could be done, it was supposed, by choosing the right time for making them, or for subjecting them to celestial influences. To know the right time, it was necessary to observe the ascendent (see note to l. 1268). See much jargon on this subject in Cornelius Agrippa, De Occulta Philosophia, lib. ii. capp. 35-47.

1268. The ascendent is that point of the zodiacal circle which is seen to be just ascending above the horizon at a given moment. Chaucer defines it in his Treatise on the Astrolabe, and adds that astrologers, in calculating horoscopes, were in the habit of giving it a wider meaning; they further reckoned in 5 degrees of the zodiac above the horizon, and 25 degrees below the ascending point, so as to make the whole ascendent occupy 30 degrees, which was the length of a 'sign.' In calculating nativities, great importance was attached to this ascendent, the astrological concomitants of which determined the horoscope. The phrase to be 'in the ascendant' is still in use. Thus in certeyn ascendentes is equivalent to 'in certain positions of the heavens, at a given time,' such as the time of one's birth, or the time for making an image (see last note). See p. 191 (above).

1271. Medea, the famous wife of Jason, who restored her father Æson to youth by her magical art; Ovid, Met. vii. 162. Gower tells the whole story, C. A. bk. v. ed. Pauli, ii. 259.

1272. Circes, Circe, the enchantress; Homer's Odyssey, bk. x; Ovid, Met. xiv. Ovid frequently has the form Circes, in the gen. case; Met. xiv. 10, 69, 71, 247, 294. Cf. Chaucer's Boethius, b. iv. met. 3. 24.

Calipsa, Calypso, the nymph who detained Ulysses in an island; Odyssey, bk. i; Ovid, ex Ponto, iv. 10. 13.

1273. Hermes is mentioned in the Can. Yeom. Tale, C. T., Group G, 1434, where the reference is to Hermes Trismegistus, fabled to have been the founder of alchemy, though none of the works ascribed to him are really his. The name Balenus occurs, in company with the names of Medea and Circe, in the following passage of the Rom. de la Rose, l. 14599:—