In conclusion it should be said that all creatures occupying the elemental region or realm of imperfection below the moon were thought to have been created not directly by God but by Nature as his "vicaire" or deputy, or, in other words, by an inferior agency. Chaucer alludes to this in _The Parlement of Foules_ briefly thus: "Nature, the vicaire of thalmyghty lorde, That hoot, cold, hevy, light, (and) moist and dreye Hath knit by even noumbre of acorde,"[48] and more at length in _The Phisiciens Tale_. Chaucer says of the daughter of Virginius that nature had formed her of such excellence that she might have said of her creation: "'lo! I, Nature, Thus can I forme and peynte a creature, Whan that me list; who can me countrefete? Pigmalion noght, though he ay forge and bete, Or grave, or peynte; for I dar wel seyn, Apelles, Zanzis, sholde werche in veyn, Outher to grave or peynte or forge or bete, If they presumed me to countrefete. For he that is the former principal Hath maked me his vicaire general, To forme and peynten erthely creaturis Right as me list, and ech thing in my cure is Under the mone, that may wane and waxe, And for my werk right no-thing wol I axe; My lord and I ben ful of oon accord; I made hir to the worship of my lord.'"[49] What is of especial interest for our purposes is found in the five lines of this passage beginning "For he that is the former principal," etc. "Former principal" means 'creator principal' or the chief creator. God is the chief creator; therefore there must be other or inferior creators. Nature is a creator of inferior rank whom God has made his "vicaire" or deputy and whose work it is to create and preside over all things beneath the sphere of the moon. IV CHAUCER'S ASTRONOMY