CONTENTS. LESSON I. From the Prologue to "Canterbury Tales." By Geoffrey Chaucer. Biographical Note. Questions. LESSON II. From the "Hymn of Heavenly Beauty." By Edmund Spenser. Biographical Note. Questions . LESSON III.-From Book First of the "Faerie Queene." LESSON XI.-" Of Anger." By Lord Bacon. Questions 45 LESSON XVI.—“ On the Morning of Christ's Nativity." By PAGE LESSON XXIV.-From "The Deserted Village." By Oliver Goldsmith. Biographical Note. Questions LESSON XXV.-"The Winter Walk at Noon." By William Cowper. Biographical Note. Questions. LESSON XXVI.-" The Moon among Trees." By William Wordsworth. Biographical Note. Questions. ENGLISH LESSONS. LESSON I. 991 PROLOGUE TO THE "CANTERBURY TALES." BY GEOFFREY CHAUCER. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 1. CHAUCER, the great father of English poetry, was born, as nearly as can be determined, about the year 1340, and was consequently living during the long and brilliant reign of Edward III. as well as the disastrous one of Richard II. But little is known of his life beyond the facts, that he appears to have been an industrious and trusted servant of the Court, that he was connected with the household of John of Gaunt, that he served in the army, on one occasion being taken prisoner in France, and went as King's Commissioner to Italy, dying in the year 1400. 2. But though we can ascertain but few of the facts of Chaucer's life, we know, not only from history, but from his own poetry, what was the nature of the times in which he lived. His were the stirring days of the great victories of Crécy and Poitiers-the times when knight 1 It is not intended, though the Lessons are arranged chronologically, that they are to be taken in order. The capabilities of the pupil must decide this for the teacher. In most cases this first lesson would be taken last, or nearly so. B hood was at its height, exemplified as it was in the chivalrous character of the Black Prince, when, though friars went about the country and pardons were bought and sold, Wickliffe had already preached and translated the Bible, and parish clergy, as Chaucer himself describes in the "Canterbury Tales," were capable of being both hardworking and pious. 3. But what makes the age of Chaucer still more memorable, is the fact that it was in his times that the English language was beginning, like the English people, to assert itself. Poetry was written in it, the Bible was translated into it, and Chaucer himself remodelled and helped to fix its limits. Of course we must not expect to find the language of Chaucer identical with that of our own day; it presents two great difficulties to young students, the remains of an AngloSaxon formation of words, participles, tenses, &c., and the difference of accent, &c., resulting from the Norman French which had hitherto been the sole language of literature and the law, in England. But it is English, the vigorous expressive English in which since then all our masterpieces have been written, and not less English in thought and manner than it is in form. 4. Chaucer was essentially the first of our English poets. His earlier work was still French in formmostly translations from the French; and later, his journey to Italy made him acquainted with the Italian writers; but his great work, the "Canterbury Tales," is as English in spirit as it is in language. A number of pilgrims going to Canterbury to do homage at the shrine of Thomas à Becket, agree to tell stories going and returning. The stories are all from French and Italian sources, tales of chivalry, of marvel, of love, of superstition, and of the coarse fun and ribaldry inseparable from those early times. But those who tell them are one and all types of the English people that were living at the time-knight and squire, humble country parson and student at Oxford, friars, nuns, millers, yeomen, a dainty lady abbess, and many more, -all described with such vigour and accuracy, that we cannot doubt that the Prologue to the "Canterbury Tales," in which these portraits occur, is the best picture gallery we could have of the mass of the English people as they existed in the reign of Edward III, 5. The portion we have selected for study is the opening to this Prologue. It contains a description of the knight of the period, then a real personage to be met with any day, not, as we think of him, a mere mythical hero, and is written in the heroic couplet with which we have since become so familiar. But due attention must be paid to the French accentuation and pronunciation, and the Anglo-Saxon prefixes, participles, and formations generally, before it can be read with as much ease and pleasure as modern verse of the same description. A few broad rules we will here give in aid of the student,-a glossary of the more difficult words will be found at the end of the extract. i. The infinitive of verbs often ends in -en, as maken to make, goon to go. The 3rd pers. plur. of verbs in the present tense often has a similar termination. ii. I is a prefix sometimes used to denote the participles of verbs; i-ronne, i-ronnen, for run, part. of the verb to run. iii. Personal pronouns. For her we have hir, hire, here; for it, hit; for theirs, here, her, hir; for them, hem; for you, you. iv. The verb to know is often expressed by can, of which the participle is couthe or kouthe. v. The comparative degree is sometimes formed by re. For far, farther, we have fer, ferre. 6. Chaucer was, according to his own account, for he figures in the Prologue along with the other pilgrims, somewhat corpulent, with a grave aspect, and eyes usually bent on the ground. He loved books and nature, and was shy and silent, but a great observer, and full of sly humour. The portraits given of him show a sweet, quaint, knightly countenance, and his works prove him to have been fond of pleasure as of study, |