[494] "Hous of Fame," ll. 469, 473, 492. [495] Thorgh me men goon in-to that blisful place ... Thorgh me men goon unto the welle of Grace, &c. These lines were "over the gate with lettres large y-wroghte," ll. 124, 127. [496] S'amor non e, che dunque e quel ch'i sento? which becomes in Chaucer the "Cantus Troili": If no love is, O God, what fele I so? (Book i. stanza 58.) [497] l. 449. [498] In sogno mi parea veder sospesa Un' aquila nel ciel con penne d'oro Con l'ali aperte, ed a calare intesa.... Poi mi parea, che piu rotata un poco, Terribil come folgor discendesse, E me rapisse suso infino al foco. ("Purgatorio," canto ix.) In Chaucer: Me thoughte I saw an egle sore ... Hit was of golde and shoon so bright That never saw men such a sighte ... Me, fleinge, at a swappe he hente, And with his sours agayn up wente, Me caryinge in his clawes starke. (ll. 449, 503, 542.) [499] I wol now singe, if that I can The armes, and al-so the man, &c. (l. 142.) Hereupon follows a complete but abbreviated account of the events in the AEneid, Dido's story being the only part treated at some length. [500] "Complete Works," vol. iii. The poem was left unfinished; it is written in octosyllabic couplets, with four accents or beats. [501] Compare, for example, the beginning of "Hous of Fame," and No. 487 of _The Spectator_ (Sept. 18, 1712): God turne us every dreem to gode! For hit is wonder, by the rode, To my wit what causeth swevenes Either on morwes or on evenes; And why the effect folweth of somme, And of somme hit shal never come; Why this is an avisioun, And this a revelacioun ... Why this a fantom, these oracles. Addison writes: "Tho' there are many authors who have written on Dreams, they have generally considered them only as revelations of what has already happened in distant parts of the world, or as presages of what is to happen in future periods of time," &c. [502] l. 1191. [503] l. 1242. [504] l. 1830. [505] l. 2047. [506] l. 2078. _Cf._ La Fontaine's "Les Femmes et le Secret." [507] "Parlement of Foules," l. 186. [508] Boccaccio's story is told in stanzas of eight lines, and has for its title "Il Filostrato" (love's victim: such was at least the sense Boccaccio attributed to the word). Text in "Le Opere volgari di Giov. Boccaccio," Florence, 1831, 8vo, vol. xiii.