Book V

. A similar story, entitled 'A Fox and a Divining Cock,' occurs in the Fables of Æsop, by Sir Roger L'Estrange. It is needless to pursue the subject.

§ 51. EPILOGUE TO THE NONNE PREESTES TALE. These characteristic lines are obviously genuine, but are only extant in three MSS. (footnote to vol. iv. p. 289). The use of the word 'another' in the last line shews that they were composed with the view of being used as a Prologue to some Tale, but that the author had not, at the moment, decided what Tale was to come next. This point was, after all, never settled; and hence there is nothing to shew what was to follow. This brings us, of necessity, to the conclusion of Group B.

In the old black-letter editions, which _retain_ this Epilogue, it is followed by the Manciple's Prologue. But this cannot be right, for there (H 5) the Host does not address 'another,' but the whole company. One of the three MSS. which retain this Epilogue (Addit. 5140) reads 'the Nunne' instead of 'another,' because the next Tale in the MS. is that of the Second Nun. This also is unsuitable, for the Host does not introduce that Tale at all.

Tyrwhitt introduces a row of asterisks after this Epilogue, to shew that there is no connexion with the following Tale.

GROUP C.

§ 52. THE SPURIOUS PROLOGUE TO THE PHISICIENS TALE. This Tale has _no_ genuine Prologue, and some MSS., including E., do not contain one. In MS. Dd. is the rubric: 'Here endeth the Frankeleins Tale, and biginneth the Phisiciens Tale _without a Prologe_.' In the best MSS., it follows the Frankeleins Tale; and such is, in my belief, its proper position. This arrangement was arbitrarily altered by Dr. Furnivall, in order, I suppose, to emphasize the fact that the relative order of the Groups may be altered at pleasure; but this might have been understood without forcible dislocation; and I think that no good has been effected by it. I have been obliged to follow suit, but I wish to make a note that the right order of the Groups is A, B, D, E, F, C, G, H, I.

On the supposition that the Phisicien follows the Frankeleyn, Tyrwhitt inserted here a short Prologue of six lines, merely to fill up the gap, without accepting it as genuine. These six lines he found in _one_ MS. only, viz. in MS. Harl. 7735; and I have reprinted them from his edition in the foot-note to vol. iv. p. 289.

In most MSS. the original position of the Tales has been altered, so as to make the Phisicien follow the Chanouns Yeman; and this is the arrangement in the black-letter editions. Two spurious Prologues have been written to connect these Tales; both being very bad. One of these appears in the black letter editions; and I here give it, from the edition of 1532.

Whan this yeman his tale ended had Of this false chanon, which was so bad, Our Hoste gan say, 'truely and certayne, This preest was begyled, sothe for to sayne, He wenyng for to be a phylosopher, 5 Tyl he right no golde lefte in his cofer. And sothly, this preest had a lither[120] iape; This cursed chanon put in his hoode an ape. But al this passe I ouer as now. Sir Doctour of Phisyke, yet I pray you, 10 Tel vs a tale of some honest matere.' 'It shal be done, if that ye wol it here,' Sayd this Doctour, and his tale bygan anon: 'Now good men (quod he) herkeneth euerychon.'

It will be seen that lines 7-9 are imitated from B 1629, 1630, and 1633; and lines 9-14 coincide, very nearly, with the spurious Prologue of six lines which I have already discussed.

The other Prologue is still worse; Mr. Wright has printed it, in a note, from the Lansdowne MS., and I here reproduce it.

'Now trewly,' quod oure Oste, 'this is a prati tale; For litel merveile it is that thou lokest so pale, Sethen thou hast medeled with so mony thinges; With bloweinge att the cole to melte bothe brochez and ringes, And other many Iewels, dar I undertake, 5 And that thi lorde couthe us tel, if we might him overtake. But lat him go a devel waye, the compaigny is never the wers; And al suche fals harlotes, I sette not be hem a kers. But latt pas overe nowe al thes subtilitees, And sume worthi man tel us summe veritees; 10 As ye, worschipful Maister of Phisike, Tellith us somme tale that is a cronyke, That we may of yowe leren sum witte.' Quod the Maister of Phisik, 'a tale that I finde writte In [a] cronyke passed of olde tyme; 15 Herkeneth, for I wil tel it yow in rime.'

These lines are instructive, as shewing that we must not accept lines as genuine merely because they occur in a MS. of some authority. And this circumstance should warn us against the folly of accepting the genuineness of such a poem as the 'Court of Love,' merely on the authority of the edition of 1561, which is a third reprint of the edition by Thynne, with arbitrary additions.

§ 53. THE PHISICIENS TALE. This is the well-known story of Virginia, which Chaucer tells, as usual, in his own way. Although he appeals to Livy as his author, he really follows the account in Le Roman de la Rose, ll. 5613-82; which contains all the particulars which he introduces, except such as are of his own invention. It is interesting to compare ll. 3-120 of this Tale, which are practically Chaucer's own, with ll. 255-76, where he follows Jean de Meun rather closely. In order to illustrate this, I give the whole passage of the French text, from Méon's edition, lines 5613-82; t. ii. p. 74:--

Comment Virginius plaida Devant Apius, qui jugea Que sa fille, à tout bien taillée, Fust tost à Claudius baillée. Ne fist bien Apius à pendre, Qui fist à son serjant emprendre Par faus tesmoings, fauce querele 5615 Contre Virgine la pucele, Qui fu fille Virginius, Si cum dist Titus Livius[121] Qui bien set le cas raconter, Por ce qu'il ne pooit donter 5620 La pucele, qui n'avoit cure Ne di li, ne de sa luxure. Li ribaus[122] dist en audience: 'Sire juges[123], donnes sentence Por moi, car la pucele est moie; 5625 Por ma serve la proveroie Contre tous ceus qui sunt en vie: Car où qu'ele ait été norrie, De mon ostel me fu emblée Dès-lors par poi qu'ele fu née, 5630 Et baillie à Virginius. Si vous requier, sire Apius, Que vous me délivrés ma serve, Car il est drois qu'ele me serve, Non pas celi qui l'a norrie: 5635 Et se Virginius le nie, Tout ce sui-ge prest de prover, Car bons tesmoings en puis trover.' Ainsinc parloit li faus traïstre Qui du faus juge[124] estoit menistre[125]; 5640 Et cum li plais ainsinc alast, Ains[126] que Virginius parlast, Qui tout estoit prest de respondre Por ses aversaires confondre, Juga par hastive sentence 5645 Apius que, sans atendence, Fust la pucele au serf renduë. Et[127] quant la chose a entenduë, Li bons prodons devant nommés, Bons chevaliers, bien renommés, 5650 C'est assavoir Virginius, Qui bien voit que vers Apius Ne puet pas sa fille deffendre, Ains li convient par force rendre, Et son cors livrer à hontage, 5655 Si change honte por damage Par merveilleus apensement, Se Titus-Livius ne ment. Comment après la jugement Virginius hastivement A sa fille le chief couppa, Dont de la mort point n'échappa; Et mieulx ainsi le voulut faire Que la livrer à pute affaire; Puis le chief presenta au juge Qui en escheut en grant déluge. Car[128] il par amors, sans haine, A sa belle fille Virgine 5660 Tantost a la teste copée, Et puis au juge présentée Devant tous en plain consistoire; Et li juges, selonc l'estoire, Le commanda tastost à prendre 5665 Por li mener ocir ou pendre. Mès ne l'occit ne ne pendi, Car li pueples le deffendi Qui fu tous de pitié méus Si tost cum li fais fu séus; 5670 Puis fu por ceste mesprison Apius mis en la prison, Et là s'occist hastivement Ains le jor de son jugement; Et Claudius li chalangieres 5675 Jugiés fu à mort comme lieres, Se ne l'en éust respitié Virginius par sa pitié, Qui tant volt li pueple proier, Qu'en essil le fist envoier, 5680 Et tuit cil condampnés moururent Qui tesmoingz de la cause furent.

We thus see that the remark 'as seith the storie,' in C 258, simply translates the French--'selonc l'estoire.' It is to be regretted that Chaucer was unacquainted with Livy's version; see Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, ii. 283. Gower (ed. Pauli, iii. 264) tells the same story; but I find no points of close resemblance, and many of divergence.

§ 54. WORDS OF THE HOST TO THE PHISICIEN AND THE PARDONER. These 'Words' connect the Phisiciens Tale with that of the Pardoner. There are some curious variations in the copies, which suggest that some alterations were here made by the author. The chief variations are the following.

C 289. E. Hn. fals cherl and; Cp. Pt. Ln. Hl. cursed theef.

C 290. E. Hn. Cp. Pt. sham(e)ful; Ln. Hl. schendful.

C 291, 2. E. Hn. Pt. _wholly vary from_ Cp. Ln. Hl.; see footnote in vol. iv. p. 299.

C 297-8. E. Hn. Pt. _omit these lines._

C 299, 300. Hl. (_and others_) _omit these lines._

I suppose that lines C 297-8, omitted in E. Hn., are a later (genuine) insertion. And perhaps the readings _cursed theef_ and _schendful_ are also corrections. But I follow MS. E. as the best guide, inserting 297-8 (as in the Six-text edition), that they may not be lost.

§ 55. PROLOGUE OF THE PARDONERS TALE. This is really a preamble; and the Tale itself has a long digression from the main subject. The portrait of the Pardoner, as here painted by himself, is historically valuable and minutely accurate; see the paper on 'Chaucer's Pardoner and the Pope's Pardoners,' by Dr. J. J. Jusserand, in Essays on Chaucer, p. 423 (Chaucer Society). The descriptions by Chaucer, Langland, Heywood (who plagiarises Chaucer mercilessly), and Sir David Lyndsay are, in this essay, supported by extracts from a papal letter by Boniface IX, written in 1390; by statements made by Richard d'Angerville, bp. of Durham, given in the Registrum Palatinum Dunelmense, iii. 325 (Rolls Series); and by extracts from Wilkins, Concilia, ii. 747, iii. 84, 131, 365. There is nothing to shew that the picture is unfair or overdrawn.

It may well be compared with one of the Tales in Boccaccio's Decamerone, Day 6, Nov. 10, which is given in full in a cheap reprint of selections from this work, edited by Prof. H. Morley, according to an English version made in the time of James I. There is nothing to shew that Chaucer had read this story; and, as has often been remarked above, he seems to have been unacquainted with the Decamerone. Some account of this Tale, with remarks, is given in Dunlop's History of Fiction, chap. vii. The hero of it is a certain friar Cipolla (i.e. Onion), whose account of himself is amusing. 'He gave a long account (says Dunlop) of his travels as far as India, and told how on his return he had visited the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who had shewn him innumerable relics; among others, a lock of the hair of the seraph that appeared to St. Francis, a paring of the cherub's nail, a few of the rays of the blessed star that guided the Magi in the east, the jaw-bone of Lazarus,' &c. He adds: 'This tale of Boccaccio drew down the censure of the Council of Trent, and is the one which gave the greatest umbrage to the church. The author has been defended by his commentators, on the ground that he did not intend to censure the respectable orders of friars, but to expose those wandering mendicants who supported themselves by imposing on the credulity of the people; that he did not mean to ridicule the sacred relics of the church, but those which were believed so in consequence of the fraud and artifice of monks.' But it must have been hard to draw this line. In the note to C 349, I have drawn attention to Heywood's close plagiarism from Chaucer, in the passage from the Four P.'s, printed in the note to l. 701 of Morris's edition of Chaucer's Prologue; also to Sir David Lyndsay's Satyre of the Three Estates, ll. 2037-2121.

§ 56. THE PARDONERES TALE. A considerable part of this Tale is taken up with a digression; the Tale itself is told simply and well, occupying ll. 463-484, 661-894. Mr. Wright remarks: 'This beautiful moral story appears to have been taken from a Fabliau, now lost, but of which the mere outline is preserved [as first noted by Tyrwhitt] in the Cento Novelle Antiche, Nov. lxxxii, as well as the story itself by Chaucer.' Dunlop, in his History of Fiction, p. 203, says: 'It is evident from the title of the Cento Novelle _Antiche_, that it was not a new and original production, but a compilation of stories already current in the world. The collection was made towards the end of the thirteenth century, and was formed from episodes in Romances of chivalry; the Fabliaux of the French Trouveurs; the ancient chronicles of Italy; recent incidents; or jests and repartees current by oral tradition. That the stories derived from these sources were compiled by different authors, is evident from the great variety of style; but who those authors were, is still a problem in the literary annals of Italy.' The story is not exactly the same in all the editions of the Cento Novelle; and two different forms of it have been printed by Dr. Furnivall, in his Originals and Analogues (Chaucer Soc.), Pt. ii. pp. 131-133. Of these, the former is from the edition of 1525, with the title Le Ciento Novelle Antike, where it appears as Nov. lxxxiii. It is very brief, and to this effect. As Christ was walking with His disciples through a wild country, they suddenly espied some bright golden piastres, and said, 'Let us take some of these for our use.' But Christ reproved them, warning them that they would soon see the fatal effects of avarice. Soon after, two men found the gold; and one of them went to fetch a mule to carry it off, whilst the other remained to guard it. On his return with the mule, the former offered to his companion two loaves which he had bought for him. The latter refused at the moment, and shortly afterwards took an opportunity of stabbing the other as he chanced to be stooping down. He then took the two loaves, gave one to the mule, and ate the other himself. The loaves were poisoned; and man and mule fell dead. Then our Lord, passing by once more, pointed out to His disciples the three dead bodies.

The other version is from the edition of 1572, entitled