House / Legend / Astrolabe

'His wyf walked him with, with a longe gode [goad],

In a cutted cote, cutted full heyȝe.'

The editions have knytte, which is an erroneous spelling either of knyt or of knytted; neither of which readings can be right.

982. Y-tukked up, with robe tucked up; 'Succinctam.' This settles the meaning of tukked in Ch. Prol. 621.

1005. Sitheo, so in all the copies. Nothing is commoner than a confusion between c and t in old MSS.; hence Sitheo is for Sichco, i.e. Sichaeus. Sichaeus (Æn. i. 343) is Vergil's name for Acerbas, a wealthy Tyrian priest, who married Elissa (Vergil's Dido) sister of Pygmalion. Pygmalion murdered Acerbas, hoping to appropriate his treasure; but Elissa fled from Tyre, taking the treasure with her, and founded Carthage. Dante has the form Sicheo; Inf. v. 62.

1010. Fredom, liberality; the old sense of free being 'liberal.' Of here means 'for'; in l. 1012 it means 'by.'

1016. Maister-temple, chief temple; cf. maistre-strete, chief street (Kn. Ta., A 2902), and maistre-tour, chief tower (Squi. Tale, F 226). It was the temple of Juno; Æn. i. 446.

1022. 'So the book says'; Vergil says that Venus shrouded Æneas and Achates with a cloud (i. 412, 516).

1024. The first syllable of Hadden forms a foot by itself; cf. l. 1030. Ov'r al forms the last foot.

1035. See Æn. i. 496, &c. Vergil likens Dido to Diana. In l. 1039 Chaucer uses god in the heathen sense, meaning Jupiter.

1044-6. These lines are original. Fremd, strange; A.S. fremede. In the Squi. Tale, F 429, it means 'foreign.' 'To frende ne to fremmed,' to friend nor to stranger; P. Plowm. B. xv. 137. Misspelt frenne (riming with glenne) in Spenser, Shep. Kal. April, 28, with the sense of 'stranger'; unless he means it for foreign.

1048. Wende han loren, he supposed to have lost, he supposed that he had lost.

1059. Meynee, attendants, followers, lit. household; O.F. meisnee, mesnee, meinee. Very common in Chaucer. The derived adj. menial is still in use. See l. 1089.

1076. The first syllable of Lyked forms a foot by itself. God do bote, may God give (us) help! A parenthetical explanation. All former editions (except my own) omit the necessary comma after as.

1077-85. Chaucer here gives a general outline of the state of the case, without following Vergil's words.

1103-27. This passage is, practically, original. Chaucer here tells the story in his own language, and gives it a wholly medieval cast.

1104. The M.E. swolow usually means 'a whirlpool' or 'gulf,' and such is Tyrwhitt's explanation. See the Catholicon Anglicum, p. 373, note 1, for examples. Thus, in Wyclif's Works, ed. Matthew, p. 97, we find—'Swolwis of the see and helle, that resceyuen al that thei may and ȝelden not aȝen.' Very rarely, it is used of an open mouth; thus in Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, iii. 250, it is said that the whale 'opened his swolȝ' to engulf Jonah. Hence, probably, arose the suggestion in Bell's note, that the reference is to the open mouth of hell, as represented in medieval drawings. Nevertheless, I believe Tyrwhitt is right; though either sense will serve. It is the mod. E. swallow, used as a sb. Cf. Dante, Inf. xxxiv. 137-9.

1106. Parements, ornaments; probably hangings. Cf. 'chambre of parementz' in Squi. Ta., F 269, and Tyrwhitt's note, quoted in my note to the line. In the Kn. Ta., A 2501, paramentz means 'rich clothes.' See Æn. i. 637-9.

1107. For ornaments, which is preserved in MSS. C. and T. only, the other MSS. and all the old editions have the odd reading pavements, which is strangely out of place. I think it clear that this arose from a repetition of the word parements, which was afterwards turned into pavements by way of desperate emendation. The letters v and r are often somewhat alike, and have been mistaken for one another, as shewn in my paper on 'ghost-words' in the Phil. Soc. Transactions, 1886.

1109. The MSS. (except T.) and the black-letter editions have he. Morris's, Bell's, and Corson's editions have she, which gives no sense, and will not suit l. 1111. I do not undertake to notice all the vagaries of the various editions, as the readings of the MSS. are so much more satisfactory. In the present case, I suppose that she is a mere misprint in Bell, preserved in the editions that follow him. Sete is short for seten, the usual M.E. pp. of sitten, to sit; see Kn. Ta., A 1452. It answers to the A.S. pp. seten, with short e. The e in mete was also short in A.S.; hence the rime is perfect.

1110. Cf. Squi. Ta., F 294—'The spyces and the wyn is come anon.' This refers to the custom of serving wine mixed with spices to the guests before going to rest; see a long note in Warton, Hist. E. Poetry, ed. 1840, i. 178 (on the word piment); Weber's note on King Alisaunder, 4178; and Our English Home, p. 85.

1114. The first syllable Ther probably constitutes the first foot of the line. I believe Chaucer accents courser on the former syllable; see Kn. Ta., A 1502, 1704; Squi. Ta., F 195, 310.

1119. Shynedè; trisyllabic; in MS. C. only; rest, shyned, shyneth, which will not scan. Cf. lakkedè, Prol. 756; knokkeden, Compl. Mars, 84. Line 2194 has shinèd, and l. 1428 has shoon. Shynede occurs in both the Wycliffite versions of Luke ii. 9; and is therefore an old form. We still have shined as a pt. t. in Ezek. xliii. 2, Acts ix. 3, xii. 7.

1120. 'Nor gentle high-flying falcon for striking herons.' Chaucer has gentil faucon in his Parl. of Foules, 337. Cotgrave, s.v. haultain, has:—'Faulcon haultain, a high-flying hawke.' Heronere means 'used for flying at herons'; only the best hawks would serve for this.

1122. Y-bete, in the Knight's Ta., A 979, means 'ornamented with beaten gold,' or with gold flattened out by the hammer (F. or batu). It might mean 'ornamented by means of the hammer'; but as 'new florins' can hardly be said to be used for decorating cups, it seems best to take with in the sense of 'as well as'; in which case florins newe y-bete means 'florins newly struck.' The allusion to florins is curious; see note to P. Plowman, B. iii. 45. Cf. Æn, i. 640—'Ingens argentum mensis, caelataque in auro Fortia facta patrum.'

1135. Take, present, offer, deliver. This sense was once common; see Sec. Non. Ta., G 223; Can. Yem. Ta., G 1030, 1034, 1365; P. Plowman, B. i. 56, iv. 58, &c.

1150-55. Chaucer here comes to the end of Æn. bk. i, and passes over the second book with the remark in l. 1153.

1155. Entendeden, gave their attention. Corson and Gilman explain it by 'attend,' as if it were the present tense.

1156. Chaucer here passes on to Vergil's fourth book, which he epitomises, and seldom follows quite exactly.

1157. Sely, simple, unsuspecting; see l. 1254. See Silly in Trench, Select Glossary.

1163. The reading his (for her) in MS. C. can be justified, and may be right. The A.S. móna was masculine, but the Lat. luna was feminine. Hence arose a confusion, so that the M.E. mone was of either gender. Hence, in Chaucer's Astrolabe, pt. ii. § 34, l. 12, we find—'And nota, that yif the mone shewe himself by light of day,' &c.; whereas in the same, pt. ii. § 40, l. 54, we find—'the mone, loke thou rekne wel hir cours houre by houre; for she,' &c.

1166. Brayd, start, sudden movement. In the Cursor Mundi, 7169, we read of Samson, that—

'Vte of thair handes son he stert

And gaue a braid sa fers and fast,

That all the bandes of him brast.'

1174. 'And eke so likely to be a hero.' Man is here used emphatically; cf. 'quam forti pectore et armis'; iv. 11.

1187. Love (A.S. lufu) is here monosyllabic; cf. Kn. Ta., A 1135. 'Love desires (to have) love; for no one will it desist.' Cf. A.S. wandian, to turn aside, blench, fear. And see wol, in l. 1191.

1191. An hunting, on hunting, a-hunting. Here an is another form of the prep. on, and hunting is a substantive, like Lat. uenatio. See Skeat, Principles of Eng. Etymology, Ser. 1, p. 260.

1196. Hoven, wait in readiness, hover. Cf. 'where that she hoved and abode'; Gower, C. A. iii. 63; and see P. Plowman, B. prol. 210, xviii. 83. It just expresses the notion of slight movement, whilst remaining nearly in the same place. The old editions read heven, which gives no sense; for it never means 'mount,' as has been suggested. Cf. Vergil's 'expectant'; iv. 134.

1198. Paper-whyt, as white as paper; a curious and rare compound. Printed paper white (as two words!) in former editions.

1200. The 4th sense of Bar in the New E. Dict. is—'An ornamental transverse band on a girdle, saddle, &c.; subsequently, an ornamental boss of any shape.'

1204. Startling, moving suddenly; the frequentative form of starting, which Chaucer preferred when repeating this same line in his Kn. Tale, A 1502.

1209. Wold, willed, desired; the pp. of willen. This form is very rare, but we again find hath wold in l. 11 of the Compl. of Venus; and hadde wold in P. Plowman, B. xv. 258. Prof. Corson aptly quotes three examples from Malory's Morte Arthur, ed. T. Wright, with the references 'vol. i. c. 33, vol. iii. c. 119, and vol. iii. c. 123.' The first of these answers to bk. ii. c. 8, p. 54 in the 'Globe' edition, where we find—'Then said Merlin to Balin, Thou hast done thyself great hurt, because thou savedst not this lady that slew herself, that might have saved her and thou wouldest.' Caxton (ed. 1485) also has woldest; but Wright, following the edition of 1634, has had would. For the other passages, see bk. xviii. capp. 15 and 19, where Caxton has 'and he had wold,' and 'and I had wolde.'

1213. Go bet, go more quickly, hasten; a term of encouragement. See Pard. Tale, C 667, and the note. Prik thou, spur thou, push on; a like term. Lat goon, let (the dogs) go.

1230. 'Ille dies primus leti, primusque malorum Causa fuit'; iv. 169. It looks as if Chaucer has translated leti by 'gladnesse,' as if it were letitiae. (Bech makes a similar remark.)

1242. Here follows, in Vergil, the celebrated description of Fame, which Chaucer had already introduced into his Hous of Fame, 1368-1392; it is therefore here omitted. He passes on to Æn. iv. 195.

1262. Pilled, robbed. 'A knight ... sholde deffenden holy chirche, and nat robben it ne pilen it'; Persones Tale, De Avaritia, I 767.

1287. Perhaps copied by the author of fragment B. of the Romaunt of the Rose. We there find (l. 4838, Glasgow MS.)—'The hoote ernes [ernest?] they al foryeten'; there being nothing answering to it in the French text.

1288. 'And he secretly causes his ships to be prepared'; lit. 'causes (men) to prepare his ships.'

1310. Seketh halwes, repairs to saints' shrines; a curious medieval touch. Vergil only mentions the sacrifice; iv. 453. Cf. Prologue, 14, and the note. 'To go seken halwes'; C. T. (Wyf of Bathes Prol.), D 657.

1312, 3. 'Si pudet uxoris, non nupta, sed hospita dicar,' &c.; Ovid, Her. vii. 167.

1317. Thise lordes; 'Nomadumque tyranni'; Æn. iv. 320. Also Pygmalion and Iarbas, id. 325, 6.

1324. The former syllable of Mercy forms the first foot in the line; cf. l. 1342. 'Have pitee on my sorwes smerte!' Ho. Fame, 316; which see.

1332. A cloth. This refers to the Trojan garments left behind by Æneas; 'Iliacas uestes'; iv. 648. The sword is mentioned by Vergil just two lines above; 646.

1338-40. Here the cloth answers to the Lat. exuuiae; and whyl hit leste = whilst it pleased. These three lines are a close imitation of Vergil, Æn. iv. 651-3:—

'Dulces exuuiae, dum fata Deusque sinebant;

Accipite hanc animam, meque his exsoluite curis;

Vixi, et quem dederat cursum fortuna, peregi.'

We hence see that, in l. 1339, the right reading is unbind me of this unreste, a close translation from the Latin. Me of are run together; see note to Complaint to Pitè, l. 11.

1346. Her norice, her nurse, or rather the nurse of Sichæus, named Barce; Æn. iv. 632.

1352. Here Chaucer, having done with Vergil, takes up Ovid, who is intended by the words myn autour.

'Sic, ubi fata uocant, udis abiectus in herbis,

ad uada Maeandri concinit albus olor.

Nec, quia te nostra sperem prece posse moueri,

alloquor. Aduerso mouimus ista deo.

Sed merita et famam, corpusque animumque pudicum

quum male perdiderim, perdere uerba leue est.

Certus es ire tamen, miseramque relinquere Dido;

atque îdem uenti uela fidemque ferent.'

IV. (Part I.) THE LEGEND OF HYPSIPYLE.

The chief sources of this fourth Legend are Guido delle Colonne's Historia Troiana, Ovid's Metamorphoses, bk. vii, and Heroides, letters vi. and xii. The story of Hypsipyle is also in Statius' Thebaid, bk. v, and in l. 1437 (see note) there is a reference to the Argonauticon of Valerius Flaccus. See further in the Preface; and see the notes to ll. 1396, 1467.

1371. Reclaiming, enticement, power to subdue; lit. a calling back. Halliwell has: 'To reclaim a hawk, to make her gentle and familiar, to bring her to the wrist by a certain call. It is often used metaphorically, to tame.' Cf. 'since this same wayward girl is so reclaimed'; Romeo, iv. 2. 47.

1383. Have at thee! let me attack (or pursue) thee. Thyn horn is blowe, the horn is blown that summons all to pursue thee; a metaphor taken from the chase.

1387. Aboght, bought; pp. of abye, which was corrupted into abide; whence 'thou shalt dearly abide it.'

1389. Et, eateth; pres. tense. So in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 135, l. 10, and in Ælfric's Grammar, ed. Zupitza, p. 200.

1391. Prof. Lounsbury would read 'the goodë man that ther-for payede,' and remarks that this gives a false rime, because the preterite form payede will not rime with the pp. betrayed. He adds—'in order to follow the reading of the one MS. that makes payed a participial form, the adj. goode, of the definite declension, has to be shorn of its final e in pronunciation.'—Studies in Chaucer, i. 405. I take good-man to be, practically, one word, as in the A. V., Matt. xx. 11, so that the def. form of the adj. is not really required. And I prefer the reading hath payed, though it rests on the authority of one (the best) MS. only. If, however, we adopt the proposed reading, it makes no difference at all to the rime. For the pt. t. of verbs of F. origin, as payen, serven, is usually payed, served, the full ending -ede (with both syllables sounded) being extremely rare in Chaucer; cf. note to l. 1119. We even have shined, not shinede, in l. 2194, in a word of E. origin. Hence there is really no fault to be found, whichever reading be taken; and the cricitism, which is quite superfluous, comes to nothing.

1394, 5. On, in the case of. Y-sene, evident; as in l. 2655. By, with reference to.

1396. The reading Guido (in MSS. C., T., A.) where the other MSS. and the editions have Ouyde, is important; especially as it is correct, and gives us a new clue. The Historia Troiana of Guido delle Colonne begins with the story of Jason, and it is evident that Chaucer follows him, at least as far as l. 1461. This can easily be seen by comparing the present passage with the beginning of Book I. of the alliterative Troy-book, ed. Panton and Donaldson, otherwise called the Gest Historiale of the Destruction of Troy, which is closely translated from Guido; or else with Lydgate's Troy-book, bk. i. capp. 1-3. Gower also tells the story of Jason (C. A. ii. 236), and says that the tale 'is in the boke of Troie write.'

1397. Pelleus; so spelt in the allit. Troy-book, l. 104; Gower has Peleus. Medieval names are strangely confused. The right form is not Peleus, but Pelias. He was king of Thessaly, half-brother of Æson, and guardian of Jason. The reading king gives him his title in anticipation, but is right. So also, in the allit. Troy-book, l. 103: 'There was a kyng in that coste,' &c.; and Guido has 'rex' here.

1425. Colcos, properly Colchis, now Mingrelia; between the Caucasus and the Eastern shore of the Black Sea. In the allit. Troy-book, it is called Colchos, l. 152; and so in Gower. It is not really an island, but Chaucer follows the Latin text, which has 'insula'; see note to l. 1590.

'Thus coyntly it kept was, all with clene art,

By too oxen, oribull on for to loke,

And a derfe dragon, drede to behold.'

1438. Oëtes (as in Guido); properly Aeëtes, Ovid, Her. xii. 51. He was king of Colchis, and father of Medea.

1453. Argus, the builder of the ship Argo, in which Jason undertook the voyage. The name is given by Guido (see the E. Troy-book, l. 273), by Valerius Flaccus, in his Argonauticon, lib. i. 314, and in the Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius.

1457. As Bech points out, Chaucer here copies the remark in Dares:—'Demonstrare cos qui cum Iasone profecti sunt non uidetur nostrum esse: sed qui uolunt eos cognoscere, Argonautas legant.'—De excidio Troiae historia, ed. Meister, 1873; cap. 1. The reference is to the Argonauticon of Valerius Flaccus, lib. i., where the list of the Argonauts may be found. It also occurs in bk. i. of the Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius. It is a dreary catalogue; or, as Chaucer says, a sufficiently long tale. There is a shorter list in Statius, Thebaid, bk. v. All the lists make much of Hercules (see l. 1454).

1459. Philotetes (so spelt by Guido, see the Eng. version, p. 12, ll. 6 and 10, where the passage from Guido is quoted) was the name of the pilot to the expedition. Valerius Flaccus identifies him with Philoctetes, son of Pœas or Pæas; as he introduces him by the name of Pœantius; Argon, i. 391.

1463. Lemnoun, Lemnos; it is very common to quote proper names in forms resembling the accusative case. This, as Chaucer says, is not in Guido, but in Ovid; see Ovid's Heroid. vi. 50, 117, 136. At the same time it would be interesting to know what version of Guido Chaucer followed; for it is a very singular fact, that whilst the story of Hypsipyle is neither in the alliterative Eng. version, nor in Lydgate, it does occur, at this point, in a Spanish version, printed at Medina in 1587. There the heading of bk. ii. c. x. is—'Como Iason aporto con tormenta a la Isla de Lemos, y caso con la infanta Hisifile.'

1467. Isiphilee, Hypsipyle, daughter of Thoas, and queen of Lemnos; she saved her father when the women of Lemnos killed all the other men in the island, and subsequently entertained Jason. As the letter in Ovid does not give all the circumstances, perhaps Chaucer consulted Valerius Flaccus, Argonauticon, lib. ii., and Statius, Thebais, lib. v., or, perhaps, the Fables of Hyginus, cap. xv.; but he makes more of Hercules than do these authorities, and seems to be inventing.

1468. Thoas doghter the king, the daughter of king Thoas. This is the usual idiom; see my note to Squi. Tale, F 209.

'Ecce procul ualidis Lemnon tendentia remis

Arma notant: rapitur subito regina tumultu,

Conciliumque uocat: non illis obuia tela

Ferre, nec infestos deerat furor improbus ignes,

Ni Ueneris saeuas fregisset Mulciber iras.'

In Statius, Theb. v., the Lemnian women receive the Argonauts with hostility at first, and attack them with missiles.

1479. This is a curious error; him should be her. As the Lemnian women had just killed every man in the island, the messenger must needs have been a woman. In fact, her name was Iphinoë; Val. Flacc. Argon. ii. 327. The account in Apollonius Rhodius is somewhat fuller; but I find no mention of the cogge.

1481. Cogge, a cock-boat; from the O. Fr. coque, also spelt cogue, a kind of vessel, sometimes a ship of war, but also a merchant-vessel, and here a small boat. See coque or cogue in Godefroy's O. Fr. Dict. Cogge occurs in the Morte Arthure, 476, 738; Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, iii. 152; &c. 'Cogboote, cokbote, scafa'; Prompt. Parv.

1487. Broken, ship-wrecked. 'The ships were broken' 1 Kings xxii. 48; cf. Jonah i. 4. Oght wo begoon, in any way distressed. Note resemblances to the tale of Dido.

1488. Lodesmen, pilots; see note to Ch. Prol. 403. 'Lodesman of a shippe, pilotte'; Palsgrave.

'Praecipueque ducis casus mirata requirit

Hypsipyle; quae fata trahant, quae regis agat uis.'

1514. Los; spelt loos in MS. Tn.; for the o is long. It means 'praise' or 'renown,' and occurs six times in Ho. Fame (1620, 1621, 1626, 1722, 1817, 1900). Los, with short o, means 'loss.'

'And therto he was hardy, wys, and riche'; Squi. Ta., F 19.

'Hardy, and wyse, and riche, and therto free'; Ship. Ta., B 1366.

'We alle desyren, if hit mighte be,

To have housbondes hardy, wyse, and free,

And secree'; Non. Pr. Ta., B 4103.

1529. Three pointes. The reference is not to l. 1528, which mentions four points, but to ll. 1530-3 following. I.e. the three points are fredom, lustihede, and being a greet gentil-man; or otherwise, liberality, youthful vigour, and high birth. Cf. l. 1405.

1535. Shamefast (from A.S. sceamu) is here trisyllabic. On the corrupt modern spelling shamefaced see Trench, Eng. Past and Present.

1538-40. In order to scan l. 1538, the word almighty is necessary, though found in MS. A. only. Or else we must insert him, and read—'As wolde God that I hadde him i-yive.' The sense is—'As (I pray) that God would permit that I might have given [him] my blood and flesh, provided that I might still live (to see the result), on the condition that he had anywhere a wife (suitable) to his rank.' So that means 'provided that'; as in 'so that ye be not wroth,' C. T., D 2248 (Sompnoures Tale), in the Harleian MS.; and in the following:—