823, 21. Poynant. F reads paynant, probably by a misprint.

35. Holidays. F reads Holy-Days; the same spelling is often found elsewhere.

43. The cock. So Aldine and Riverside editions; F, followed by SS. and C., reads a Cock, which can hardly be correct.

65. Some lines, etc. "The exact object of this curious fling is not obvious. The cousinhood of William and Mary will not do, for many reasons. Perhaps the Hapsburgs and the 'Austrian lip' are glanced at." SAINTSBURY 824, 104. Sprite. F reads Spright.

106. Shrovetide. The recognized and privileged time for cockfighting, and pelting cocks with sticks, especially in schools." SAINTSBURY. Cf. 871, 7, n.

136. Afeard. Freads affer'd; Chaucer has aferd. 146. The canting style. "In technical terms;" used with a bit of sarcasm at doctors, not at Puritans.

161. Humor. Cf. 6, 100, n.

162. Cato. The reference is to a work in easy Latin, used as a schoolbook in the middle ages, Dionysii Catonis Disticha de Moribus ad Filium. It has no connection with either of the two famous Catos of Roman history; hence 11. 203, 204, which are Dryden's addition to the story.

825, 187. Under. F reads over, an obvious mistake.

188. Because, etc. Cf. 436, 105.

202. For Homer, etc. Dryden's addition; cf. 813, 91-93.

254. For sacred, etc. Cf. 552, 80.

826, 279. Found. F reads bound.

300. Waiting, etc. Cf. 10, 223, 224.

328. A mob, etc. "There may be room to suspect that the line should run:

A court of cobblers, and a mob of kings, —

as better expressing the confusion of ideas incident to dreaming." SCOTT.

827, 391. The wife, etc. This vision Chaucer found, not in Homer, but in Dares Phrygius: cf. 4972, 34, n; 5012, 52, n. 417. In principio. "In the beginning," a reference to the opening words of the Gospel of John, which begin the "second Gospel," ordinarily read at the close of Mass. 418. Mulier, etc. "Woman is man's undoing," a mediæval saying that Chaucer is supposed to have taken from Vincent of Beauvais. 828, 460. Man, etc. Dryden's addition to the story; cf. 111, 170, n.

473. And Heav'n, etc. "An allusion to Homer's allegory of the two tuns (Iliad, xxiv. 527 f), used by Achilles in consolation to the afflicted Priam." [WARTON.]

479. Book of Martyrs. The Catholic Dryden introduces a sarcastic reference to John Foxe's Acts and Monuments, commonly known as the Book of Martyrs, a favorite book with the English Protestants, and a work of which the accuracy is by no means equal to its anti-Catholic enthusiasm.

480. A fox, etc. "Indulging, as usual, his po

litical antipathies, Dryden fails not to make the fox a Puritan." SCOTT.

499. O hypocrite, etc. "According to the romantic history of Charlemagne, Gano, or Ganelon, betrayed the Christian army at the battle of Roncesvalles, where Orlando and the peers of France were slain. The pun upon Gallic (Latin gallus, a cock), which is renewed in deriving the cock from Brennus and Belinus (1. 636), is entirely Dryden's." [SCOTT.] 829, 515, 549, 559. Bin, been. Cf. 2631, 31, n. 523. I cannot, etc. Dryden, true to his taste for argument in verse, expands the following passage; and, true to his Catholic faith, makes plain his preference for the free will solution: cf. 877, 424. In ll. 517-522 there is a sneer at Calvinism; cf. 116, 539, n.

524. Bradwardin. Thomas Bradwardine (1290?1349), Archbishop of Canterbury. His work On the Cause of God earned him the title of Doctor Profundus, and remained a theological authority for ages. Austin is of course St. Augustine.

555. With a mischief to their kind. A mild curse "deuce take 'em!"

565. Silence, etc. An expression of Dryden's own principles after the Revolution. 830, 599. So profane. So SS. and C.; Freads to prophane.

636. Brennus and Belinus. Brennus was the leader of the Gauls who overran Italy in B. C. 390. Belinus (or Belenus) was a divinity of the Gauls.

652. Solar. "That is, born under the influence of the sun; this addition to Chaucer well illustrates Dryden's interest in astrology." [SAINTSBURY.]

831, 686. Native.

"In astrology, the person whose scheme of nativity is calculated." [SCOTT.]

693. Gaufride, etc. "Gaufride, or Geoffrey de Vinsauf, bewailed the death of Richard I in would-be plaintive hexameters, in which he particularly exclaims against Friday, the day on which that hero was shot by Bertrand de Gurdun." [ScOTT.] Chaucer's compliment is of course ironical.

728. Talbot with the band. "Probably Dryden

took Talbot in its sense of dog, and then band will be as in bandog, 'the chained hound.'"' [SAINTSBURY.]

742. Jack Straw, etc. "Dryden has given Jack Straw the national antipathies of the mob in his own time. The gathering cry one and all he also takes from modern London." [SCOTT.] 750. And inflated box. "Blew into musical instruments of boxwood;" or inflated may be taken as a participle.

832, 759. Yours, etc. "This excellent parody upon Virgil is introduced by Dryden, and marks his late labors." [SCOTT.] Cf. 707, 1357, 1358.

790. So loyal subjects, etc. Another utterance of the Tory Dryden, capable of being applied to the events of the English Revolution. 806. "A peace, etc. This closing speech of the cock was added to the story by Dryden.

THEODORE AND HONORIA. This story is from the eighth tale of the fifth day of the Decameron. Dryden has altered the names of the characters, changing Nastagio degli Onesti into Theodore, the daughter of Paolo Traversaro into Honoria, and Guido degli Anastagi into Guido Cavalcanti. The last name is found in the tenth canto of Dante's Inferno, but Dryden is more likely to have taken it from the ninth tale of the sixth day of the Decameron. In the plot the English poet makes but one essential change, greatly expanding (ll. 340-409) the description of the inward struggle of Honoria, which Boccaccio treats very summarily, in about ten lines.

Byron's praise of this tale is well known: Sweet hour of twilight! - in the solitude Of the pine forest, and the silent shore Which bounds Ravenna's immemorial wood,

Rooted where once the Adrian wave flow'd o'er, To where the last Cæsarean fortress stood, Evergreen forest! which Boccaccio's lore And Dryden's lay made haunted ground to me, How have I loved the twilight hour and thee! The shrill cicalas, people of the pine,

Making their summer lives one ceaseless song, Were the sole echoes, save my steed's and mine, And vesper bell's that rose the boughs along; The specter huntsman of Onesti's line,

His hell-dogs, and their chase, and the fair throng Which learn'd from this example not to fly From a true lover, -shadow'd my mind's eye.

Don Juan, iii. 105, 106.

1. Romanian lands. Boccaccio's phrase is, In Ravenna antichissima città di Romagna. 835, 193. Stern. F reads Stern'd.

220. Would. "Used purposely here as expressing desire." (SAINTSBURY.]

836, 228. Destruction. F reads Distruction.

268. Mastiffs'. F reads Mastiffs, which may be either nominative or possessive, since the apostrophe is ordinarily not used in plural possessives.

280. Close. F reads clos'd. 838, 425. Beware. Since Dryden frequently shifts

tenses in successive lines (as, for example, in 536, 31, 32; 859, 407, 408), this may be taken as a present tense: cf. 832, 799. CEYX AND ALCYONE. The words out of.

Metamorphoses do not occur in the heading in F; they are supplied from the table of contents, which, however, has Tenth instead of Eleventh. 839, 51. And present, etc. "And, being present,

fear nothing except what I actually suffer." 54. Starlike. Ovid's sidereus; Ceyx was the son of Lucifer, the morning star.

842, 278. Beast of nature. Wild beasts (fera); cf. 251, 2537.

311. Renew. F reads renews, doubtless a misprint.

844, 395, 396. Her nurse, etc. The punctuation

follows SS.; F has no stop after cause, and places commas after Cries and Griefs. 845, 495. Sev'n days, etc. These are the "halcyon days" (cf. 7, 144; 10, 236) of winter, when the sea is calm and the kingfisher sits brooding on her nest. Other authors give their number as fourteen.

7

THE FLOWER AND THE LEAF. The words ou of Chaucer do not occur in the heading of this poem in F, but are found in the table of contents.

Modern students of Chaucer do not regard the original of this poem as one of his works. It probably dates from the middle of the fifteenth century, and seems to have been written by a woman (cf. 851, 471). It is in a seven-line stanza, rhyming a babbcc (rhyme royal). Dryden is freer in handling this poem than in any other of his adaptations from early English, except of course The Character of a Good Parson; l. 480-501, which identify the companies of knights and ladies with fairies, are his addition to the story. 29. The balmy dew. "That is, sleep." [SAINTSBURY.]

846, 46. The painted birds. Christie notes the Virgil: picta volucres,

borrowing

from

Georgics, iii. 243.

53. And wanted, etc. "One prognostic was missing to add to the others that announced the spring." [SAINTSBURY.]

847, 129. Her opposite. "The goldfinch." SAINTSBURY.

155. A train, etc. "The mass of the Fathers (Justin, Athenagoras, Irenæus, Clement, Tertullian, Origen, Lactantius, Sulpicius, Ambrose, Nazianzen) hold that, though Satan fell from the beginning, the Angels fell before the deluge, falling in love with the daughters of men." NEWMAN, Apologia, ch. i (London, 1887, p. 29). Cf. Genesis vi. 2.

158. Less. "That is, a comparison less." [SAINTSBURY.]

159. Of a kind. "Of one kind; uniform." [SAINTSBURY.] After kind F has a comma, retained here and in SS.; C. deletes it. 848, 228. Trumpets. "In the sense of trumpeters. These and other warlike musicians long held some part of the character of heralds and of ancient minstrels. They were distinguished by collars and tabards, and often employed on messages, during which their persons were sacred." [ScOTT.]

233. Charge. "Bearings." SAINTSBURY. 257. The rivets, etc. "The joints of the armor were riveted with nails after the warrior had put it on.' ." [SCOTT.]

264. Henchmen. "Personal attendants, who followed the knights in battle, and never quitted their side. Before a battle the henchmen carried, as in the text, the arms of the knight ready for use." (SCOTT.]

849, 297. Coursers. F reads Courses. 850, 345. On arow. F reads on a-row. 353. Masters'. F reads Master's. 360. Lea. F reads Lay, a spelling which helps to explain rhymes such as sea: way, 27, 42. 851, 493. Demogorgon. "Demogorgon, one of the more apocryphal deities of mythology, has not much propriety here, except as supplying a name of excellent sound." [SAINTSBURY.] 852, 535. Nine worthies. "The common list of the nine worthies comprehends: Hector, Pompey, and Alexander, pagans; Joshua,

David, and Judas Maccabeus, Jews; and
Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of
Boulogne, Christians; but it is sometimes
varied." SCOTT.

542. Who bear the bows, etc. "This is a mistake of Dryden, who was misled by the spelling of his text of the old English; bowes here, but boughes in line corresponding to 849, 282. The bow, though the youth trained to chivalry were taught to use it, made no part of a knight's proper weapons. But it is curious how Dryden, having fallen into an error, finds out a reason for his false reading, by alleging that the bows were borne as an emblem of strength of arm, valor, and victory." [SCOTT.] 853, 606. Sigils. "Planetary or other signs, used

as talismans." (SAINTSBURY.] Dryden's addition; cf. 766, 483.

854, 24. Ostent. "Dryden probably took this term (it is not in Ovid) from Chapman (Iliad, ii. 280), which, considering his previous condemnation of that translator (3862, 21-29), was unkind." (SAINTSBURY.]

36. Yet, etc. Yet, despite this prodigy, the navy did not weigh anchor.

44. Iphigenia. Dryden accents incorrectly, Iphigenia instead of Iphigeni'a; cf. 601, 606, n; 730, 7, n; 895, 419.

855, 98. Heroes. Possibly this should be changed to heroes'.

856, 203. The bird. "The swan." SCOTT.

236. These. So SS.; F reads Those. On Caneus, cf. 601, 608; 787, 53.

857, 294. The cloud-begotten race. "The Centaurs,

a people of Thessaly, said to be begotten by Ixion, on the cloud which he took for Juno." SCOTT.

307. And little wanted, etc. "The translation is somewhat obscure; it means: 'All wished her joy, and it had nearly happened that all had wished it in vain."" [SCOTT.]

858, 339. Supply. Cf. 400, 1031, n. 861, 578. Strange, etc. Habit and dress are ordi

narily synonyms. Scott thinks that here the former applies "to the furniture of the horse," but suggests as an alternative that it "means his mode of life." N. E. D. gives no instance of habit used in any such sense as trappings of a horse.

862, 607. Divin'd. F reads devin'd.

634. Beast. F reads Breast; the emendation was suggested, but not adopted, by Saintsbury.

863, 742. Tow'r'd. F reads tour'd.

864, 811. Warrior. So SS.; F reads Warrious;

perhaps warriors' would be a better correction. 868, 254. Phthia. F reads Pthya.

869, 395. The spy. Dolon, whom Diomedes and

Ulysses surprised setting out to explore the Greek camp: v. Iliad, x. 299-464; cf. 695, 520-529.

871, 501. Counsels. So SS.; F reads Counsel, probably by a misprint.

872, 609. A flow'r. The hyacinth. This flower

was fabled to have sprung from the blood of the beautiful youth Hyacinthus, a favorite of Apollo, and accidentally slain by him. It bore

on its petals the Greek letters AI, an exclamation of woe, symbolizing the grief of Apollo for his loss. The same letters begin the name Aías, Ajax.

THE WIFE OF BATH, HER TALE. On this poem Professor Lounsbury writes:

"This is essentially a fairy story. In Chaucer the heroine is a young and beautiful woman who has by unmentioned, but evidently malignant agency been transformed into a foul, ill-favored crone. It is implied, though not asserted, that in this condition she must remain until some one can be prevailed upon to receive her as a bride with all her deformity, and ignorant of the transformation that is to restore her to her true shape. It is for this end, therefore, that she is laboring solely. But in Dryden's version she is no mere passive sufferer from a wrong inflicted by a malign and hostile influence possessed of preternatural power. She is herself a proficient in magic art. She has the infernal world at her command. When her offer is accepted by the knight, she spreads her mantle on the ground, and transfers him with furious rapidity to King Arthur's court, while his horse is also brought thither by some devil subject to her will [v. 875, 253-265]. The alteration was objectionable because it was false to the original, false to the belief upon which the original was founded, and false to the central idea of the story. The beautiful woman of Chaucer, suffering from the influence of malignant hate, becomes in Dryden a practitioner of the black art, leagued with the powers of the lower world, and sharing in the privileges with which subservience to their will is rewarded." Studies in Chaucer, iii. 176, 177.

Though this criticism is just, it merely shows Dryden's lack of knowledge and appreciation of medieval literature. His contemporaries, if they noted his addition to the original, were probably pleased by it.

3. Elfs. On the discrepancy with elves (873, 34), cf. 2631, 31, n.

28. Friars. F reads Fry'rs.

873, 61-68. Then courts, etc. An oblique reply to Collier: v. B. S. xxxvi; n. 734 (MOTTEUX); cf. 899 (Epil.).

73. Geneura. Guinevere.

80. Covering, etc. This line is Dryden's addition, and is very characteristic of him.

84. Speaker. The speaker of the House of Commons was so called because in the old days he was the spokesman of the Commons in their communications with the Crown. The older sense of the word survives here.

104. But, not, etc. The 1700 ed. reads But not to hold our Proffer in Scorn; that of 1713 inserts turn'd after Proffer. Some emendation is necessary, and that suggested in the text seems as likely as any.

874, 156. Witness, etc. "Ovid, indeed, tells the story in the Metamorphoses, lib. xi. But how will the fair reader excuse Chaucer for converting the talkative male domestic of Midas into that king's wife?" SCOTT.

194. Bittor. F reads Bittour.

...

Bumps. The name given to the cry of the bittern. "That a bittern maketh that mugient noise, or as we term it, bumping, by putting its bill into a reed, is not so easily made out. For my own part, though after diligent enquiry, I could never behold them in this motion." SIR THOMAS BROWNE, Pseudodoria Epidemica, iii. 27, § 4. 875, 245. Kerchief. "I do not remember another example of this synecdoche, though the similar, but much less graceful, petticoat, is of

-the proudeste of hem alle, That wereth on a coverchief or a calle.

876, 340. À la mort. F reads a-la-mort. This phrase was once completely naturalized in English, and felt as all amort; the italics of F show, however, that Dryden regarded it as still French.

877, 374. Ah benedicite, etc. The following passage, through 1. 457, is greatly altered and expanded from Chaucer. Dryden owes much to Lucretius; cf. 191, 208-236. Line 436, however, is from Horace; cf. 4901, 13, n. 387. Earth. "That is, his earthly part, body." [SAINTSBURY.]

424. The will is free. Cf. 829, 523, n. 878, 431. Whichsoever. One of the two.

434. Sodom blue.

"That is, the blue flame of sulphur, wherewith Sodom perished." [SAINTSBURY.]

448. Servius Tullius. The sixth king of Rome, the son of a female captive, who was a slave in the family of Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king. F reads Tullus, probably by a misprint.

450. Fabricius. One of the poor and honest heroes of the Roman republic, famous for his exploits in the war against Pyrrhus. (Added to the story by Dryden.)

471. The ragged beggar, etc. From Juvenal, as Chaucer indicates; cf. 348, 33, 34.

879, 534. Pygmalion. Added to the story by Dryden; v. 804-806.

543. Often as they. So SS.; F reads often they. 3. Sate. F reads sat, but cf. rhyme. 16. Alcides. Hercules; cf. 628, 266-270. 881, 160. Cov'tous. F reads covet'ous. 882, 260. Tiphys. The helmsman of the ship Argo; cf. 885, 505.

883, 304. Flow'rets. F reads Flourets.

339. The rolling chair. "The rolling chair, or gocart, and the stick are not in Ovid." SAINTSBURY.

Dryden's addition here of concrete detail to Ovid's vague aliquo conamine is in contrast with his general tendency to abstraction. 343. Years. F places a comma after this word; SS., a colon.

884, 434. Hurt by Hercules, etc. Cf. 857, 292 f, and 863, 706–710.

885, 505. Tiphys. Cf. 882, 260, n. 886, 539. But this, etc. Cf. 481-487, 401-806.

541. Hollow. So SS.; F reads hallow, which may be a misprint for either hollow or shallow.

888, 702. Nor purple feathers, etc. "Alluding to the plan of fastening bright feathers to a string to frighten game.' SAINTSBURY. THE CHARACTER OF A GOOD PARSON. "This piece may be considered as an amende honorable to the reverend order whom Dryden had often satirized, cf. 734(MOTTEUX), n; 7342, 18, n; 111, 99; 4922, 46–49,- and he himself seems to wish it to be viewed in that light (v. 7452, 26-35). With a freedom which he has frequently employed elsewhere, though to a less extent, Dryden has added the last thirtyfive lines, in which, availing himself of the revolution which in Chaucer's time placed Henry IV on the throne, he represents the political principles of his priest as the same with those of the non-juring clergy of his own day. Indeed the whole piece is greatly enlarged upon Chaucer's sketch." [SCOTT.]

As we know from a letter (printed on p. 737), Dryden wrote this poem at the suggestion of Samuel Pepys, the diarist. To the poet's letter Pepys replied as follows:

"You truly have obliged mee; and possibly in saying so, I am more in earnest then you can readily think; as verily hopeing from this your copy of one GOOD PARSON, to fancy some amends made mee for the hourly offence I beare with from the sight of soe many lewd originalls.

"I shall with great pleasure attend you on this occasion, when ere you'l permit it; unless you would have the kindness to double it to mee, by suffering my coach to wayte on you (and who you can gayne mee ye same favour from) hither, to a cold chicken and a sallade, any noone after Sunday, as being just stepping into the ayre for 2 days. I am most respectfully

Your honord and obednt Servant,
S. P." (Malone I, 2, 86.)

The writer of the preface to the 1711 edition of Expostulatoria, a work attributed to Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1711) applies to Ken Dryden's Character of a Good Parson. (The editor here follows the account of Ken by the Rev. William Hunt in D. N. B., which, however, gives the title of Ken's work as Expostularia.) The age of the parson, his writing of hymns (ll. 21-24), and his principles as a nonjuror, all circumstances added to Chaucer by Dryden, favor this view, but external evidence is lacking.

19. For, letting down, etc. Dryden's addition; cf. 782, 1024, 1025. The idea of the chain of love goes back to Boethius; v. Skeat's note on Cant. Tales, A 2991-93.