Opening the text

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury TalesChaucer, Geoffrey

General

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales

Name: Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey

Chaucer, Geoffrey

English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500

105. _Gledy_, glowing; an adj. formed from _gleed_, a glowing coal. I know
of no other example of this word. The compound adj. _gled-read_, glede-red,
i.e. red as a glowing coal, occurs in O. Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, i. 249.

108. The first of May was a favourite time for joyful observances. See note
to Kn. Tale, A 1500.

109. _Dredful_, timid, timorous; as in Kn. Tale, A 1479.

112. _Agayn_, against, towards, turned towards; as in l. 48.

113. _The beste_, i.e. the Bull, the sign Taurus. _Agenores doghter_ is
Europa, daughter of Agenor of Phoenicia, who, according to the fable, was
carried off by Jupiter in the form of a bull. Hence Ovid uses the
expression 'Agenoreus bos,' Fast. vi. 712; and calls Europa 'Agenore nata,'
Met. ii. 858. For the story, see the latter reference.

Chaucer here tells us that the Sun, on the 1st of May, was 'in the breast'
of Taurus, i.e. in the middle of it. It was, in fact, far advanced in the
sign, near the 20th degree. See Fig. 1 in this volume, which shews the back
of the Astrolabe.

118. Cf. Book of the Duchesse, 399.

125. Cf. Book of the Duchesse, ll. 410-2, which is a parallel passage. Both
passages are borrowed from the Roman de la Rose, 55-58; see vol. i. p. 95.

126. _Mat_, dead; a term borrowed from the game of chess. See Anelida, 176;
Book Duch., 660; and Kn. Tale, A 955.

128. _Atempre_, temperate, mild. See Book of the Duch., 341, and the note.
This again is from the Rom. de la Rose, 125. _Releved_, raised up again,
revived. Cotgrave gives: '_Relevé_, raised, lift, or set up again;
relieved, revived, fully restored.'

130. 'In the classical and middle ages small birds were a common article of
food, as they are on the continent at the present time; and the season for
catching them with a _panter_, or bag-net, was winter, when the scarcity of
food made them tame. The poet here represents their songs in the spring, as
the expression of their exultation at having baffled the stratagems,
quaintly called _sophistries_, by which the fowler had endeavoured to lure
them to their destruction.'--BELL.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury TalesChaucer, Geoffrey

General

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales

Chaucer, Geoffrey

English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500

105. _Gledy_, glowing; an adj. formed from _gleed_, a glowing coal. I know
of no other example of this word. The compound adj. _gled-read_, glede-red,
i.e. red as a glowing coal, occurs in O. Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, i. 249.

108. The first of May was a favourite time for joyful observances. See note
to Kn. Tale, A 1500.

109. _Dredful_, timid, timorous; as in Kn. Tale, A 1479.

112. _Agayn_, against, towards, turned towards; as in l. 48.

113. _The beste_, i.e. the Bull, the sign Taurus. _Agenores doghter_ is
Europa, daughter of Agenor of Phoenicia, who, according to the fable, was
carried off by Jupiter in the form of a bull. Hence Ovid uses the
expression 'Agenoreus bos,' Fast. vi. 712; and calls Europa 'Agenore nata,'
Met. ii. 858. For the story, see the latter reference.

Chaucer here tells us that the Sun, on the 1st of May, was 'in the breast'
of Taurus, i.e. in the middle of it. It was, in fact, far advanced in the
sign, near the 20th degree. See Fig. 1 in this volume, which shews the back
of the Astrolabe.

118. Cf. Book of the Duchesse, 399.

125. Cf. Book of the Duchesse, ll. 410-2, which is a parallel passage. Both
passages are borrowed from the Roman de la Rose, 55-58; see vol. i. p. 95.

126. _Mat_, dead; a term borrowed from the game of chess. See Anelida, 176;
Book Duch., 660; and Kn. Tale, A 955.

128. _Atempre_, temperate, mild. See Book of the Duch., 341, and the note.
This again is from the Rom. de la Rose, 125. _Releved_, raised up again,
revived. Cotgrave gives: '_Relevé_, raised, lift, or set up again;
relieved, revived, fully restored.'

130. 'In the classical and middle ages small birds were a common article of
food, as they are on the continent at the present time; and the season for
catching them with a _panter_, or bag-net, was winter, when the scarcity of
food made them tame. The poet here represents their songs in the spring, as
the expression of their exultation at having baffled the stratagems,
quaintly called _sophistries_, by which the fowler had endeavoured to lure
them to their destruction.'--BELL.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales

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