There is also a close connexion between Troilus and the House of Fame, the latter of which shows the influence of Dante in a high degree; see p. vii. This connexion will appear from comparing Troil. v. stt. 52-55 with Ho. Fame, 2-54; and Troil. i. st. 74 (ll. 517-8) with Ho. Fame, 639, 640. See Ten Brink, Studien, p. 121. It would seem that the House of Fame followed Troilus almost immediately. At the same time, we cannot put the date of the House of Fame later than 1384, because of Chaucer's complaint in it of the hardship of his official duties, from much of which he was released (as we shall see) early in 1385. Further, the 10th of December is especially mentioned as being the date on which the House of Fame was commenced (l. 111), the year being probably 1383 (see Note to that line). It would appear, further, that the Legend was begun soon after the House of Fame was suddenly abandoned, in the very middle of a sentence. That it was written later than Troilus and the House of Fame is obvious, from the mention of these poems in the Prologue; ll. 332, 417, 441. That it was written at no great interval after Troilus appears from the fact that, even while writing Troilus, Chaucer had already been meditating upon the goodness of Alcestis, of which the Prologue to the Legend says so much. Observe the following passages (cited by Ten Brink, Studien, p. 120) from Troilus, bk. v. stt. 219, 254:-- 'As wel thou mightest lyen on _Alceste_ That was of creatures--but men lye-- That ever weren, kindest and the beste. For whan hir housbonde was in Iupartye To dye himself, but-if she wolde dye, She chees for him to dye and go to helle, And starf anoon, as us the bokes telle. Besechinge every lady bright of hewe, And every gentil womman, what she be, That, al be that Criseyde was untrewe, That for that gilt she be not wrooth with me. Ye may hir gilt in othere bokes see; And gladlier I wol wryten, if yow leste, Penelopeës trouthe, and good _Alceste_.' There is also a striking similarity between the argument in Troilus, bk. iv. st. 3, and ll. 369-372 (B-text) of the Prologue to the Legend. The stanza runs thus:-- 'For how Criseyde Troilus forsook, Or at the leste, how that she was unkinde, Mot hennes-forth ben matere of my book, As wryten folk thorugh whiche it is in minde. Allas! that they shulde ever cause finde To speke hir harm; and, if they on hir lye, Y-wis, hem-self sholde han the vilanye.' I will here also note the fact that the first line of the above stanza is quoted, almost unaltered, in the _earlier version_ of the Prologue, viz. at l. 265 of the A-text, on p. 88.