The highest place-in habit just such as Could [do] when, braying, the animal Dullest of all awoke Vesta, who to his mind Tes. vii. 61, 62; cf. P. F. 281–294. 'Here many bows of the Chorus of Diana She saw hung up and broken; among which was P. F. 281. 'She saw there histories painted all about; Among which with finer work P. F. 288. Of the spouse of Ninus she there Saw all the doings distinguished; and at foot of the mulberry-tree Pyramus and Thisbe, and the mulberries already distained; In the lap of Iole, and woeful Biblis Going piteous, soliciting Caunus.' Tes. vii. 63-66; cf. P. F. 260-280. 'But, as she saw not Venus, it was told her (Nor knew she by whom)-" In secreter Part of the temple stays she delighting. P. F. 260. If thou wantest her, through that door quietly Approached thither to enter within, But there she, at her first coming, P. F. 251. Who seemed to her much to be reverenced: And, being by her allowed to enter there, But she had hair of gold, and shining The arms, breast, and outstanding apples, Were all seen; and every other part with a That it shewed forth almost as [if] naked. P. F. 267. 'The neck was fragrant with full a thousand odours. P. F. 274. At the other Ceres with her savours. And, having seen all this, she [the prayer] made her request, At 1. 298 we are introduced to a queen, who in 1. 303 is said to be the noble goddess Nature. The general idea is taken from Aleyn's Pleynt of Kynde (l. 316), i. e. from the Planctus Naturae of Alanus de Insulis; see note to 1. 298, on p. 297. I here quote the most essential passage from the Anglo-Latin Satirical Poets, ed. T. Wright, ii. 437. It describes the garment worn by the goddess Nature, on which various birds were represented. The phrase animalium concilium probably suggested the name given by Chaucer to our poem. 'Haec autem [vestis] nimis subtilizata, subterfugiens oculorum indaginem, ad tantam materiae tenuitatem advenerat, ut ejus aerisque eandem crederes esse naturam, in qua, prout oculis pictura imaginabatur, animalium celebratur concilium. Illic aquila, primo juvenem, e secundo senem, induens, tertio iterum reciprocata priorem, in Adonidem revertebatur a Nestore. Illic ancipiter (sic), civitatis praefectus aeriae, violenta tyrannide a subditis redditus exposcebat. Illic milvus, venatoris induens personam, venatione furtiva larvam gerebat ancipitris. Illic falco in ardeam bellum excitabat civile, non tamen aequali lance divisum. Non enim illud pugnae debet appellatione censeri, ubi tu pulsas, ego vapulo tantum. Illic struthio, vita seculari postposita, vitam solitariam agens, quasi heremita factus, desertarum solitudines incolebat. Illic olor, sui funeris praeco, mellitae citherizationis organo vitae prophetabat apocopam. Illic in pavone tantum pulcritudinis compluit Natura thesaurum, ut eam postea crederes mendicasse. Illic phoenix, in se mortuus, redivivus in alio, quodam Naturae miraculo, se sua morte a mortuis suscitabat. Illic avis concordiae (ciconia) prólem decimando Naturae persolvebat tributum. Illic passeres in atomum pygmeae humilitatis relegati degebant, grus ex opposito in giganteae quantitatis evadebat excessum. 'Illic phasianus, natalis insulae perpessus angustias, principum futurus deliciae, nostros evolabat in orbes. Illic gallus, tanquam vulgaris astrologus, suae vocis horologio horarum loquebatur discrimina. Illic gallus silvestris, privatioris galli deridens desidiam, peregre profisciscens, nemorales peragrabat provincias. Illic bubo, propheta miseriae, psalmodias funereae lamentationis praecinebat. Illic noctua tantae deformitatis sterquilinio sordescebat, ut in ejus formatione Naturam crederes fuisse somnolentam. Illic cornix, ventura prognosticans, nugatorio concitabatur garritu. Illic pica, dubio picturata colore, curam logices perennebat insomnem. Illic monedula, latrocinio laudabili reculas thesaurizans, innatae avaritiae argumenta monstrabat. Illic columba, dulci malo inebriata Diones, laborabat Cypridis in palaestra. Illic corvus, zelotypiae abhorrens dedecus, suos foetus non sua esse pignora fatebatur, usque dum comperto nigri argumento coloris, hoc quasi secum disputans comprobat. Illic perdix nunc aeriae potestatis insultus, nunc venatorum sophismata, nunc canum latratus propheticos abhorrebat. Illic anas cum ansere, sub eodem jure vivendi, hiemabat in patria fluviali. Iilic turtur, suo viduata consorte, amorem epilogare dedignans, in altero bigamiae refutabat solatia. Illic psittacus cum sui gutturis incude vocis monetam fabricabat humanae. Illic coturnicem, figurae draconis ignorantem fallaciam, imaginariae vocis decipiebant sophismata. Illic picus, propriae architectus domunculae, sui rostri dolabro clausulam fabricabat in ilice. Illic curruca, nover cam exuens, materno pietatis ubere alienam cuculi prolem adoptabat in filium; quae tamen capitali praemiata stipendio, privignum agnoscens, filium ignorabat. Illic hirundo, a sua peregrinatione reversa, sub trabe nidi lutabat hospitium. Illic philomena, deflorationis querelam reintegrans, harmoniaca tympanizans dulcedine, puritatis dedecus excusabat. Illic alauda, quasi nobilis citharista, non studii artificio, sed Naturae magisterio, musicae praedocta scientiam, citharam praesentabat in ore.... Haec animalia, quamvis illic quasi allegorice viverent, ibi tamen esse videbantur ad litteram.' As to the date of this poem, Ten Brink (Studien, p. 127) shews that it must have been written later than 1373; and further, that it was probably written earlier than Troilus, which seems to have been finished in 1383. It may therefore have been written in 1381, in which case it may very well refer to the betrothal of King Richard II. to Queen Anne of Bohemia. Prof. Ward, in his Life of Chaucer, p. 86, says :-'Anne of Bohemia, daughter of the great Emperor Charles IV., and sister of King Wenceslas, had been successively betrothed to a Bavarian prince and to a Margrave of Meissen, before-after negotiations which, according to Froissart, lasted a year1—her hand was given to young King Richard II. of England. This sufficiently explains the general scope of the Assembly of Fowls, an allegorical poem written on or about St. Valentine's Day, 1381-eleven months or nearly a year after which date the marriage took place 2. I here note that Lydgate's Flour of Curtesie is a palpable imitation of the Parliament of Foules. VI. MERCILES BEAUTE. The unique copy of this poem is in MS. P3. It is the last poem in the MS., and is in excellent company, as it immediately follows several other of Chaucer's genuine poems. This is probably why Bp. Percy attributed it to Chaucer, who himself tells us that he wrote 'balades, roundels, virelayes.' It is significant that Mätzner, in his Altenglische Sprachproben, i. 347, chose this poem alone as a specimen of the Minor Poems. It is, in fact, most happily expressed, and the internal evidence places its authenticity beyond question. The three roundels express 1 See 1. 647. The royal tercel eagle is, then, Richard II.; and the formel eagle is Queen Anne; the other two tercel eagles were her other two suitors. See Froissart, bk. ii. c. 86. 2 It is quite impossible that the poem can refer, as some say, to the marriage of John of Gaunt in 1359, or even to that of de Coucy in 1364; see Furnivall's Trial Forewords, p. 70. It is plainly much later than the Book of the Duchess, as the internal evidence incontestably shews. * Todd gives the contents of this MS. in his Illustrations of Chaucer, p. 116. three 'movements,' in the poet's usual manner; and his mastery of metre is shewn in the use of the same rime in -en-e in the first and third roundels, requiring no less than ten different words for the purpose; whilst in the second roundel the corresponding lines end in -eyn-e, producing much the same effect, if (as is probable) the old sounds of e and ey were not very different. We at once recognise the Chaucerian phrases I do no fors (see Cant. Ta. 6816, 7094), and I counte him not a bene (see Troil. v. 363). Very characteristic is the use of the dissyllabic word sen-e (1. 10), which is an adjective, and means 'manifest,' from the A.S. geséne (gesýne), and not the past participle, which is y-seen. Chaucer rimes it with clen-e (Prol. to C. T. 134), and with gren-e (Kn. Tale, 1440). The phrase though he sterve for the peyne (1. 23) reminds us of for to deyen in the peyne (Kn. Ta. 275). But the most curious thing about this poem is the incidental testimony of Lydgate, in his Ballade in commendacion of our Ladie; see poem no. 26 above, discussed at p. xxvii. I here quote st. 22 in full, from ed. 1561, fol. 330:— 'Where might I loue euer better beset Then in this Lilie, likyng to beholde? That lace of loue, the bonde so well thou knit, And or I passe out of my daies olde, VII. ANELIDA AND ARCITE. The genuineness of this poem is obvious enough, and is vouched for both by Lydgate and Shirley, as shewn above. It is discussed in the Notes, p. 310. I may add that Lydgate incidentally refers to it in his Complaint of the Black Knight, 1. 379-' Of Thebes eke the false Arcite.' Much later allusions are the following :— 'There was also Annelida the queene, Upon Arcite how sore she did complaine'; Assembly of Ladies, 1. 465. ' and the weimenting Of her Annelida, true as turtle-dove To Arcite fals.' Court of Love, 1. 233. |