NOTES TO GROUP G 401 THE SECOND NONNES TALE 401 THE CANON'S YEOMAN'S PROLOGUE 414 THE CHANOUNS YEMANNES TALE 421 NOTES TO GROUP H 435 THE MANCIPLE'S PROLOGUE 435 THE MAUNCIPLES TALE 439 NOTES TO GROUP I 444 THE PARSON'S PROLOGUE 444 THE PERSONES TALE 447 NOTES TO THE TALE OF GAMELYN 477 ADDENDA 490 INDEX TO THE SUBJECTS, ETC., EXPLAINED IN THE NOTES 495 * * * * * [ix] INTRODUCTION TO THE NOTES § 1. In the brief Introduction to vol. iv. I have given a list of the MSS. of the Canterbury Tales; some account of the early printed editions; and some explanation of the methods employed in preparing the present edition. I propose here to discuss further certain important points of general interest. And first, I would say a few words as to the Canon of Chaucer's Works, whereby the genuine works are separated from others that have been attributed to him, at various times, by mistake or inadvertence. § 2. CANON OF CHAUCER'S WORKS. This has already been considered, at considerable length, in vol. i. pp. 20-90. But it is necessary to say a few words on the whole subject, owing to the extremely erroneous opinions that are so widely prevalent. Sometimes a poem is claimed for Chaucer because it occurs 'in a Chaucer MS.' There is a certain force in this plea in a few cases, as I have already pointed out. But it commonly happens that such MSS. (as, for example, MS. Fairfax 16, MS. Bodley 638, and others) are mere collections of poetry of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, from which nothing can safely be inferred as to the authorship of the poems which they contain, unless the scribe distinctly gives the author's name[1]. As a rule, however, the scribes not only omit to mention names, but they frequently omit the very title of the poem, and thus [x] withhold such help as, in many cases, they might easily have afforded.