Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * In this text [*e] represents the "schwa" or obscure vowel, printed as inverted-e, and [gh] represents the Middle English letter "yogh", similar to the numeral 3. [=a] signifies "a macron", and so forth. Parallel bilingual texts are marked with << for Chaucer's text, >> for the original, in blocks as printed page by page. * * * * * [Illustration: Vol. I. _Frontispiece._ GEOFFREY CHAUCER: FROM MS. HARL. 4866] * * * * * THE COMPLETE WORKS OF GEOFFREY CHAUCER _EDITED, FROM NUMEROUS MANUSCRIPTS_ BY THE REV. WALTER W. SKEAT, M.A. LITT.D., LL.D., D.C.L., PH.D. ELRINGTON AND BOSWORTH PROFESSOR OF ANGLO-SAXON AND FELLOW OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE * ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE MINOR POEMS ----'blanda sonantibus Chordis carmina temperans.' BOETHIUS, _De Cons. Phil._ Lib. III. Met. 12. 'He temprede hise blaundisshinge songes by resowninge strenges.' _Chaucer's Translation._ SECOND EDITION Oxford AT THE CLARENDON PRESS MDCCCXCIX * * * * * Oxford PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS BY HORACE HART, M.A., PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY * * * * * CONTENTS. *** The Portrait of Chaucer in the frontispiece is noticed at p. lix. PAGE GENERAL INTRODUCTION vii LIFE OF CHAUCER ix LIST OF CHAUCER'S WORKS lxii ERRATA AND ADDENDA lxiv