PART I

.) THE LEGEND OF HYPSIPYLE.

The chief sources of this fourth Legend are Guido delle Colonne's Historia Troiana, Ovid's Metamorphoses, bk. vii, and Heroides, letters vi. and xii. The story of Hypsipyle is also in Statius' Thebaid, bk. v, and in l. 1437 (see note) there is a reference to the Argonauticon of Valerius Flaccus. See further in the Preface; and see the notes to ll. 1396, 1467.

1368-95. This is a Prologue to the Legend, and is original.

1371. _Reclaiming_, enticement, power to subdue; lit. a calling back. Halliwell has: 'To _reclaim_ a hawk, to make her gentle and familiar, to bring her to the wrist by a certain call. It is often used metaphorically, to tame.' Cf. 'since this same wayward girl is so _reclaimed_'; Romeo, iv. 2. 47.

1373. _Of_, by means of. _Farced_, stuffed; as in Prol. to C. T., 233.

1377. 'Where others betray one, thou betrayest two.'

1381. _Shove_, pushed forward, brought into notice; cf. l. 726.

1383. _Have at thee!_ let me attack (or pursue) thee. _Thyn horn is blowe_, the horn is blown that summons all to pursue thee; a metaphor taken from the chase.

1387. _Aboght_, bought; pp. of _abye_, which was corrupted into _abide_; whence 'thou shalt dearly _abide_ it.'

1388. _Box_, blow, buffet; now only used of 'a box on the ear.'

1389. _Et_, eateth; pres. tense. So in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 135, l. 10, and in Ælfric's Grammar, ed. Zupitza, p. 200.

1391. Prof. Lounsbury would read 'the goodë man that ther-for payede,' and remarks that this gives a false rime, because the preterite form _payede_ will not rime with the pp. _betrayed_. He adds--'in order to follow the reading of the one MS. that makes _payed_ a participial form, the adj. _goode_, of the definite declension, has to be shorn of its final _e_ in pronunciation.'--Studies in Chaucer, i. 405. I take _good-man_ to be, practically, one word, as in the A. V., Matt. xx. 11, so that the def. form of the adj. is not really required. And I prefer the reading _hath payed_, though it rests on the authority of one (the best) MS. only. If, however, we adopt the proposed reading, it makes no difference at all to the rime. For the pt. t. of verbs of F. origin, as _payen_, _serven_, is usually _payed_, _served_, the full ending _-ede_ (with both syllables sounded) being extremely rare in Chaucer; cf. note to l. 1119. We even have _shined_, not _shinede_, in l. 2194, in a word of E. origin. Hence there is really no fault to be found, whichever reading be taken; and the cricitism, which is quite superfluous, comes to nothing.

1394, 5. _On_, in the case of. _Y-sene_, evident; as in l. 2655. _By_, with reference to.

1396. The reading _Guido_ (in MSS. C., T., A.) where the other MSS. and the editions have _Ouyde_, is important; especially as it is correct, and gives us a new clue. The Historia Troiana of Guido delle Colonne begins with the story of Jason, and it is evident that Chaucer follows him, at least as far as l. 1461. This can easily be seen by comparing the present passage with the beginning of