Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.) HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY OF MODERN KNOWLEDGE CHAUCER AND HIS TIMES BY GRACE E. HADOW LONDON WILLIAMS & NORGATE HENRY HOLT & Co., NEW YORK CANADA: WM. BRIGGS, TORONTO INDIA: R. & T. WASHBOURNE, LTD. 1914 HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY OF MODERN KNOWLEDGE _Editors_: HERBERT FISHER, M.A., F.B.A, LL.D. PROF. GILBERT MURRAY, D.LITT., LL.D., F.B.A. PROF. J. ARTHUR THOMSON, M.A., LL.D. PROF. WILLIAM T. BREWSTER, M.A. (Columbia University, U.S.A.) NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY CHAUCER AND HIS TIMES BY GRACE E. HADOW LECTURER IN ENGLISH, LADY MARGARET HALL, OXFORD; LATE READER IN ENGLISH, BRYN MAWR COLLEGE, U.S.A. LONDON WILLIAMS AND NORGATE _The following volumes of kindred interest have already been published in this Library_: 43. English Literature: Mediæval. By Prof. W. P. Ker. 13. Mediæval Europe. By H. W. C. Davis, M.A. 45. The English Language. By L. Pearsall Smith, M.A. 35. Landmarks in French Literature. By G. L. Strachey. _First Printed April 1914_ CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE NOTES ON CHAUCER'S USE OF 'E' vi I CHAUCER'S LIFE AND TIMES 7 II CHAUCER'S WORKS 32 III CHAUCER'S TREATMENT OF HIS SOURCES 69 IV CHAUCER'S CHARACTER-DRAWING 106 V CHAUCER'S HUMOUR 143 VI CHAUCER'S DESCRIPTIVE POWER 173 VII SOME VIEWS OF CHAUCER'S ON MEN AND THINGS 196 VIII CHAUCER'S INFLUENCE 229 BIBLIOGRAPHY 254 INDEX 255 NOTES ON CHAUCER'S USE OF 'E' 1. Final _e_ is usually sounded in Chaucerian verse, but (_a_) it is slurred over before a word beginning with a vowel, e.g. I noldë sette◠at al that noyse◠a grote; before certain words beginning with _h_, such as _he_; any part of the verb to _have_; the adverbs _heer_, _how_, and a mute _h_ as in _honour_--e.g. Tho redde◠he me how Sampson loste◠his heres: (_b_) it is sometimes dropped in certain words in common use such as _were_, _hadde_, _wolde_, etc.--e.g. Wolde◠go to bedde,◠he wolde◠no lenger tarie. 2. Middle _e_ is sometimes dropped: e.g. hav(e)nes. 3. Final _e_ should always be sounded at the end of a line.