Mr. Sapsworth, formerly scholar of St. John's College, was the original compiler of the glossary to the Minor Poems and the Legend of Good Women. Amongst the pieces which I specially undertook myself, I may mention the Treatise on the Astrolabe, and some of the Canterbury Tales, including those of the Miller, the Reeve, the Shipman, the Merchant, and the Wife of Bath. The original references for the Prioresses Tale (and others) were made by my wife, more than twenty years ago; and I have, in various ways, received help from other members of my family. I think Dr. Morris and myself may claim to have done much for Middle-English by way of compiling glossaries. Dr. Morris led the way by the very full glossaries to his Early English Alliterative Poems, Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight, and Genesis and Exodus; whilst it fell to my lot to gloss Lancelot of the Laik, the Romance of Partenay, Piers the Plowman (305 pages, in double columns), Pierce the Ploughman's Crede, the alliterative Joseph of Arimathie, Barbour's Bruce (114 pages), The Wars of Alexander[11], and Alexander and Dindimus[12]; besides preparing the glossary to Specimens of English, Part III., and rewriting Part II. of the same. In the present instance, I have revised the meanings assigned and all the references; and I trust that not many are incorrect. The glossaries to Chaucer by Tyrwhitt and Dr. Morris are both excellent; but we now require one on a larger scale. s. 15. CRITICISM. A brief explanation may here suffice. The conspicuous avoidance, in this edition, of any approach to what has been called aesthetic criticism, has been intentional. Let it not be hence inferred that I fail to appreciate the easy charm of Chaucer's narrative, the delicious flow of his melodious verse, the saneness of his opinions, the artistic skill with which his characters are drawn, his gentle humour, and his broad sympathy. It is left to the professed critic to enlarge upon this theme; he can be trusted to do it thoroughly. s. 16. THE DIALECT OF CHAUCER.