INTRODUCTION.

Now that the fifth century since the death of Chaucer is almost completed, it seems high time that a serious attempt should be made to present to readers an edition of his Minor Poems in something like a reasonable spelling and with a sufficient quantity of illustration in the form of notes. Mr. Sweet has given us a few extracts from these, in his Second MiddleEnglish Primer, but confesses that he has 'not attempted to forestall the inevitable German, who, it is to be hoped, will some day give us a critical edition of Chaucer.' Though I am perhaps to some extent disqualified, as being merely a native of London, in which eity Chaucer himself was born, I hope I may be pardoned the temerity of attempting something in this direction. At the same time, it is only right to say that we owe something to Dr. John Koch, who produced 'A Critical Edition of some of Chaucer's Minor Poems,' published at Berlin in 1883. The only fault of this edition is that it contains so very little; the number of short poems in it is only ten, extending in all to 483 lines. It does not seem to be at all well known in England, and perhaps I should never have heard of it, but for the kindness of Dr. Koch himself, to whom I beg leave to return my best thanks, at the same time acknowledging my indebtedness to his researches. The present edition is of a fuller character, as it includes all of Chaucer's genuine poetical works with the exception of the three of most importance, that is to say, the Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Cressida, and the Legend of Good Women.

Just half an hour after writing the above sentences I received from Dr. Willert his edition of 'The House of Fame,' too late, unfortunately, to be of much assistance to me. See further below, with respect to that poem.

The first question that arises is, naturally, which of the Minor Poems are genuine? The list here given partly coincides with that adopted by Dr. Furnivall in the publications of the

Chaucer Society. I have, however, added five, here numbered vi, xv, xxi, xxii, and xxiii; my reasons for doing so are given below, where each poem is discussed separately. At the same time, I have omitted the poem entitled 'The Mother of God,' by the advice of Dr. Furnivall himself; for although he once told us that no one can suppose that poor Hoccleve had the power of writing his Master's Mother of God, there is clear evidence that it was written by the pupil, and not by the master. The only known copy of it is in a MS. now in the library of the late Sir Thomas Phillipps, which contains sixteen poems, all of which are by the same hand, viz. that of Hoccleve. After all, it is only a translation; still, it is well and carefully written, and the imitation of Chaucer's style is good. It was printed, together with five other poems from the same MS., in the edition of some of 'Occleve's Poems' by G. Mason, in 1796. Among the unprinted poems, according to the editor's preface, is a similar hymn to the Virgin, beginning 'Modir of lyf '.'

First, we must consider the external evidence generally.

TESTIMONY OF CHAUCER REGARDING HIS WORKS.

The most important evidence is that afforded by the poet himself. In an Introduction prefixed to the Man of Law's Prologue (printed in my edition of the Prioresses Talc, at p. 3), he says

In youth he made of Ceys and Alcioun'—

a story which is preserved at the beginning of the Book of the Duchesse.

In the Prologue to the Legend of Good Women, he refers to his translation of the Romaunce of the Rose, and to his Troilus; and, according to MS. Fairfax 16, ll. 417-423, he says—

'He made the book that hight the Hous of Fame,

And eke the deeth of Blaunche the Duchesse,

And the Parlement of Foules, as I gesse,

I note by the way that, in one of these poems, addressed to Sir J. Oldcastle, occurs the line-Right as a spectacle helpeth feeble sighte'; an early reference to the use of spectacles. A' Ballad' begins with-Go litil pamfilet, and streight thee dresse'; giving an early spelling of pamphlet.

And al the love of Palamon and Arcite

Of Thebes, thogh the story ys knowen lyte,
And many an ympne for your halydayes

That highten Balades, Roundels, Virelayes,' &c.

The rest of the passage does not immediately concern us, excepting Il. 427, 428, where we find—

'He made also, goon ys a grete while,

Origenes vpon the Maudeleyne.

In the copy of the same Prologue, as extant in MS. Gg. 4. 27, in the Cambridge University Library, there are two additional lines, doubtless genuine, to this effect—

And of the wrechede engendrynge of mankynde,
As man may in pope Innocent I-fynde.'

There is also a remarkable passage at the end of his Persones Tale, the genuineness of which has been doubted by some, but it appears in the MSS., and I do not know of any sound reason for rejecting it. According to the Ellesmere MS., he here mentions-'the book of Troilus, the book also of Fame, the book of the xxv. Ladies1, the book of the Duchesse, the book of seint Valentynes day of the parlement of briddes ... the book of the Leoun... and many a song,' &c.

Besides this, in the House of Fame, 1. 729, he mentions his own name, viz. 'Geffrey.' We thus may be quite certain as to the genuineness of this poem, the longest and most important of all the Minor Poems, and we may at once add to the list the Book of the Duchesse, the next in order of length, and the Parliament of Foules, which is the third in the same order.

We also learn that he composed some poems which have not come down to us, concerning which a few words may be useful.

1. 'Origenes vpon the Maudeleyne' must have been a translation from a piece attributed to Origen. In consequence, probably, of this remark of the poet, the old editions insert a piece called the 'Lamentacion of Marie Magdaleine,' which has no pretence to be considered Chaucer's, and may be summarily

The Legend of Good Women is here meant; and 'xxv.' is certainly an error for 'xix.'

dismissed. It is sufficient to notice that it contains a considerable number of rimes such as are never found in his genuine works, as, for example, the dissyllabic dy-e1 riming with why (st. 13); the plural adjective ken-e riming with y-ën, i. e. eyes, which would, with this Chaucerian pronunciation, be no rime at all (st. 19); and thirdly, disgised riming with rived, which is a mere assonance, and saves us from the trouble of further investigation (st. 25). See below, p. xxvi.

2. 'The wrechede engendrynge of mankynde' is obviously meant to describe a translation or imitation of the treatise by Pope Innocent III, entitled De Miseria Conditionis Humanae. The same treatise is referred to by Richard Rolle de Hampole, in his Pricke of Conscience, 1. 498.

3. 'The book of the Leoun,' i. e. of the lion, was probably a translation of the poem called Le Dit du Lion by Machault; see the note to 1. 1024 of the Book of the Duchesse in the present volume.

LYDGATE'S LIST OF CHAUCER'S POEMS.

The next piece of evidence is that given in what is known as 'Lydgate's list.' This is contained in a long passage in the prologue to his poem known as the 'Fall of Princes,' translated from the French version (by Laurens de Premierfait) of the Latin book by Boccaccio, entitled 'De Casibus Virorum Illustrium. In this Lydgate commends his 'maister Chaucer,' and mentions many of his works, as, e. g. Troilus and Creseide, the translation of Boethius' De Consolatione Philosophiae, the treatise on the Astrolabe addressed to his 'sonne that called was Lowys,' the Legend of Good Women, and the Canterbury Tales. The whole passage is given in Morris's edition of Chaucer, vol. i. pp. 79-81; but I shall only cite so much of it as refers to the Minor Poems, and I take the opportunity of doing so directly, from an undated black-letter edition published by John Wayland.

1 Of course I mean that dy-e is the Chaucerian form; the author of the Lamentation pronounced it differently, viz. as dy.

2 See the excellent treatise by Dr. E. Köppel entitled 'Laurents de Premierfait und John Lydgates Bearbeitungen von Boccaccios De Casibus Virorum Illustrium'; München, 1885.