THE KNIGHT'S TALE. 47 a Chaucer, there could have been a Shakspeare, even had the language been cultivated by some later hand. The Tales. With real politeness, the Host invites the grave Knight to begin the series; and the narrator, always dignified and gracious, tells the sad story of Palamon and Arcite, borrowed from Boccacciohow fraternal love was changed by a stronger passion into raging hate; how the fair Emily was beloved by both the unhappy brothers; and how they fought at last in deadly combat for her sake, and were saved by the interposition of the king. Then, at last, Arcite dies, commending his Emily to the care of Palamon, the brother whom he had once hated in his madness. The Tales flow on with the readiness of an Arabian Night's Entertainment. Each is suited to its narrator, and each has its own place in the general story. The Man of Law describes the sorrows of fair Custance, daughter of a Roman emperor, who was married to the Soudan of Syria, was set adrift in a ship, landed on the distant shores of Britain, and, amidst wonderful adventures and endless woes, marries an English king, converts the people, and at last is recognized at Rome by her father, the emperor. I am your doughter, your Custance, quod she, It am I, fader, that in the salte see A very interesting story; Custance's son becomes pope; her British husband dies; she goes back to Rome, and lives in a constant labor of good works. Still more touching and tender is the Clerk's Tale, the trials of the matchless Griselda. The Squire's Tale touched the fancy of Milton, and he sings of the Cambuscan and the fair Canace in delicate rhymes; of the magic steed of brass, that at the turning of a screw fled through the air; of the wonderful mirror, and the ring, and the enchanted sword. The bronzed and hardy sailor tells his coarse story naturally: He knew wel alle the havens, as they were, And every creke in Bretagne and in Spain. The Prioress suggests one of the cruel superstitions of the age with matchless pathos. In the prose tale of Melibens we have the doctrine of forgiveness and mercy finely illustrated by the wise wife Prudence; loose tales then follow; at length, the Parson's THE PARSON'S TALE. 49 Tale closes the pilgrimage, as it seems to have employed the last days of the poet's life. It is a somewhat tedious sermon, written in almost the earliest English prose. Its counsels are often excellent, and its style and language wonderfully pure. Chaucer created both English prose and poetry, and his ear for harmony is always sensitive. He thought in numbers. If, as Mr. Simon urges. the Parson's Tale has been interpolated, it may have been less tedious at first. In it the poet repents of all his license, follies, grossness; and, under the shadow of Westminster, recants the labors of his better years. "Wherfore I beseke you mekely for the mercie of God that ye preye for me, that Crist have mercie of me, and foryeve me my giltes [namely, of myn translations and enditinges of worldly vanitees, the which I revoke in my Retractions, as the boke of Troilus, the boke also of Fame, the boke of the Duchesse, the Tales of Canterbury (in part), and many a song, and many a lecherous lay.]"* Thus the poet surveyed his own work, and, dying, longed, perhaps, to blot out many a line. * If we accept Mr. Simon's arguments, these lines and many other parts of this Parson's Tale are interpolations. Chaucer's Life.-Chaucer's life seems to have been bound up in that of his patrou and connection, John of Gaunt. The poet and the royal duke rose and fell together. Their wives were sisters, and when Lancaster ruled at Richard's court, Wycliffe was tolerated, and Chaucer obtained high offices and revenues. He had his tun of wine annually. But when for a brief period the duke fell into neglect, Chaucer sunk into poverty, was deprived of his employments, forced to sell his pensions and other property, and complains of his low estate. He wrote lines" to his Empty Purse." In 138991, he was clerk of the works, had charge of Westminster, the Tower, and afterward the chapel at Woodstock. He was robbed of twenty pounds in 1390, and afterward of a smaller sum. Amidst the perils of the age, political disorders, intrigues, murder plots, the poet passed on safely. The fiercest and most terrible of struggles in Church and State moved him but slightly; there is no intense or elevated feeling in all his writings. Compared to the earnest Wycliffe, or the fiery Longland, he is a mere trifler among his songs and books. He escaped by compliance the malice and the tyranny of Richard II., and the relentless rage of his savage barons. CHAUCER'S WORKS. 51 Richard he often admonishes and instructs. At the close of the disastrous yet wonderful reign, he was apparently poor and neglected; but with the accession of Henry IV., the bold usurper, son of his friend the Duke of Lancaster, prosperity again dawned upon Chaucer. He was uncle by marriage to the king. He took office, and was restored to all his affluence. But soon (in 1400) he died. His Works.-His works lived after him in many manuscripts, and were the classics of English letters until the Elizabethan age. When printing was invented, one of Caxton's first publications was an edition of the Canterbury Tales. William Thynne edited them in Henry VIII.'s reign in spite of the opposition of the prelates. Chaucer was the only model to which More, Shakspeare, Ascham, Marlowe, Raleigh, Bacon, could look for an example of pure English, and a graceful style. The corrupt and imperfect editions of the earlier age were studied with intense ardor by Sidney and by Milton. No careful copy of his works has yet been produced. It is the aim of the Chaucer Society, recently founded, partly by American zeal,* * To Professor Child, of Harvard, is due much of the interest recently awakened for Chaucer. |