Again, in Hazlitt's Proverbs, we find 'To go blow one's flute,' which is taken from an old proverb. In Vox Populi Vox Dei (circa 1547), pr. in Hazlitt's Popular Poetry, iii. 284, are the lines:-- 'When thei have any sute, Thei maye goo blowe theire flute, _This goithe the comon brute_.' The custom is old. Cf. Zenobius, i. 19 (Paroem. Graec. I. p. 6):-- [Greek: aidein pros murrinên; ethos ên ton mê dunamenon en tois sumposiois aisai, daphnês klôna ê murrinês labonta pros touton aidein.] 1850. _fer ne ner_, farther nor nearer, neither more nor less. 'After some little trouble, I have arrived at the conclusion that Chaucer has given us sufficient _data_ for ascertaining both the days of the month and of the week of many of the principal events of the "Knightes Tale." The following scheme will explain many things hitherto unnoticed. 'On Friday, May 4, before 1 A.M., Palamon breaks out of prison. For (l. 1463) it was during the "third night of May, but (l. 1467) a little _after_ midnight." That it was Friday is evident also, from observing that Palamon hides himself at day's approach, whilst Arcite rises "for to doon his observance to May, remembring on the _poynt of his desyr_." To do this best, he would go into the fields at _sunrise_ (l. 1491), during the hour dedicated to _Venus_, i. e. during the hour after sunrise _on a Friday_. If however this seem for a moment doubtful, all doubt is removed by the following lines:-- "Right as the _Friday_, soothly for to telle, Now it shyneth, now it reyneth faste, Right so gan gery _Venus_ overcaste The hertes of hir folk; right as _hir day_ Is gerful, right so chaungeth she array. Selde is the _Friday_ al the wyke ylyke." 'All this is very little to the point unless we suppose Friday to be the day. Or, if the reader have _still_ any doubt about this, let him observe the curious accumulation of evidence which is to follow. 'Palamon and Arcite meet, and a duel is arranged for an early hour on the _day following_. That is, they meet on Saturday, May 5. But, as Saturday is presided over by the inauspicious planet Saturn, it is no wonder that they are both unfortunate enough to have their duel [76] interrupted by Theseus, and to find themselves threatened with death. Still, at the intercession of the queen and Emily, a day of assembly for a tournament is fixed for "_this day fifty wykes_" (l. 1850). Now we must understand "fifty wykes" to be a poetical expression for _a year_. This is not mere supposition, however, but a _certainty_; because the appointed day was in the month of _May_, whereas fifty weeks and no more would land us in _April_. Then "this day fyfty wekes" means "this day year," viz. on May 5. [In fact, Boccaccio has 'un anno intero'; Tes. v. 98.]