Now, as fate would have it, in the year 1888 Dr. Furnivall invited Mr. Alfred W. Pollard to collaborate with him in an edition of Chaucer which he had for many years promised to bring out for Messrs. Macmillan. The basis of their text of the Tales was almost precisely that chosen by Professor Skeat, _i.e._ a careful collation of the Six Texts and the Harleian 7334, due preponderance being given to the Ellesmere MS., and all variations from it stated in the notes. "A beginning was made," says Mr. Pollard, "but the giant in the partnership had been used for a quarter of a century to doing, for nothing, all the hard work for other people, and could not spare from his pioneering the time necessary to enter into the fruit of his own Chaucer labors. Thus the partner who was not a giant was left to go on pretty much by himself. When I had made some progress, Professor Skeat informed us that the notes which he had been for years accumulating encouraged him to undertake an edition on a large scale, and I gladly abandoned, in favor of an editor of so much greater width of reading, the Library Edition which had been arranged for in the original agreement of Dr. Furnivall and myself with Messrs. Macmillan. I thought, however, that the work which I had done might fairly be used for an edition on a less extensive plan and intended for a less stalwart class of readers, and of this the present issue of the Canterbury Tales is an instalment."[B] So it comes about that we have two texts before us, each based on a collation of the Six-Text edition and the Harleian MS. 7334--the chief difference being that Mr. Pollard adheres closely to the Ellesmere MS., while Professor Skeat allows himself more freedom. This is how they start-- "Whán that Apríllė with híse shourės soote The droghte of March hath percėd to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licóur Of which vertú engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eck with his swetė breeth 5 Inspirėd hath in every holt and heeth The tendrė croppės, and the yongė sonne Hath in the Ram his halfė cours y-ronne, And smalė fowelės maken melodye That slepen al the nvght with open eye,-- 10 So priketh hem Natúre in hir coráges,-- Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages ..." (_Pollard_.) "Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth 5 Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yong sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y ronne, And smale fowles maken melodye, That slepen al the night with open yë, 10 (So priketh hem nature in hir corages:) Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages..." (_Skeat._)