HAND-BOOK

OF

ENGLISH LITERATURE.

GEOFFREY CHAUCER.

Geoffrey Chaucer, who has been fitly styled "the morning star of English poetry," flourished in the reign of Edward III., and died A. D. 1400. The date of his birth is unknown, but it is supposed to have been about the year 1328. He had some public employments, and a pension from the crown; but the royal instructions, on one occasion, certainly, indicate that the practical monarch had no special appreciation of the poet's genius. "The Canterbury Tales," his principal work, is a connected series of stories told by a number of pilgrims on their way to the shrine of à Becket. The characters are vividly and minutely drawn, so that, if history were silent, the dress and customs of the age, and even the general condition of the kingdom, could be reproduced from this poem alone. Chaucer has never been equalled in flowing, animated, and picturesque narrative; and though his capricious versification and his use of a French accent and of words now obsolete are enough to repel most readers, still no student ever regretted the labor it cost to understand this great poet. A week's study will make his pages luminous.

[From the Prologue to Canterbury Tales.]

1

WHAN that Aprillé with his shourés soote
The drought of March hath percéd to the roote,
And bathéd euery veine in swich 2 licour',
Of whiche vertue engendred is the flour;
Whan zephirus eke with his sweté brethe
Inspiréd hath in every holt" and hethe
The tendre croppés, and the yongé sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfé cours yronne,*
And smalé foulés maken melodie,
That slepen al the night with open eye,
So priketh hem nature' in hir coráges;
Than longen folk to gon on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seken straungé strondes,
To ferné halwes couthe' in sondry londes ;

6

• Hallowed persons, saints.

7 Known.

And specially from euery shirés ende

Of Englelond, to Caunterbury they wende,
The holy blisful martyr for to seke,

That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seke.

THER was also a Nonne, a Prioresse,
That of hir smyling was full simple and coy;
Hire gretest othe n'as but by Seinte Loy;
And she was clepéd1 Madame Eglentyne.
Ful wel she songe the seruise' diuine,
Entuned in hire nose ful semely;

And french she spake ful fayre and fetisly,"
After the scole of Stratford atté Bowe,
For french of Parys was to hire vnknowe.
At meté wel ytaught was she with alle;
She leet no morsel from hir lippés falle,
Ne wette hire fyngres in hir saucé depe.
Wel couthe she carie a morsel, and wel kepe,
That no dropé ne fell upon hire brest.
In curtesye was sette ful moche hire lest."
Hire ouer-lippé wipéd she so clene,

That in hire cuppé was no ferthing* sene

Of grecé, whan she dronken hadde hire draught
Ful semely after hire mete she raught,

6

5

And sikerly she was of grete disport,
And ful plesant', and amyable of port,
And peyned' hire to counterfete chere
Of court, and ben estatlich of manere',
And to ben holden digne9 of reuerence.

But for to speken of hire conscience,
She was so charitable and so pitous',
She woldé wepe if that she saw a mous
Caughte in a trappe, if it were ded or bledde.
Of smalé houndés hadde she, that she fedde
With rosted flessh, or milk, and wastel brede.

1 Called.

6 Surely.

2 Neatly. 3 Her pleasure. 4 Smallest spot.

7 Took pains,

8 To imitate.

5 R500

9 Worthy.

But sore wept she if on of hem were dede,
Or if men smote it with a yerdé1 smerte: 2
And al was conscience and tendre herte.

Ful semely hire wimple pynchéd was ;
Hire nose tretis'3; hire eyen grey as glas ;
Hire mouth ful smale, and thereto softe and red;
But sikerly she hadde a fayre forehed'.
It was almost a spanné brode I trowe;
For hardily she was not vndergrowe.*

Ful fetys⚫ was hire cloke, as I was war.
Of smale corall' aboute hire arm she bar
A pair of bedés, gauded al with grene;
And thereon heng a broche of gold ful shene,
On which was first writen a crounéd A,
And after, Amor vincit omnia.

Another nonne with hire hadde she,

That was hire chapelleine, and preestes thre.

[From the Nonnes Preestes Tale.]

A YERD she had, enclosed all about
With stickés, and a drié diche without,
In which she had a cok hightechaunteclere,
In all the land of crowing n'as' his pere.
His vois was merier than the mery orgon,
On massé daies that in the chirches gon,
Well sikerer was his crowing in his lodge,
Than is a clok, or any abbey orloge'.

ROGER ASCHAM.

Roger Ascham, an eminent scholar, the preceptor of Lady Jane Gray, of Queen Elizabeth, and of other eminent persons, was born in 1515, and died 1568. He did not favor the use of voluminous grammars, since the "Latin Accidence," prepared for his illustrious pupils, contained less than thirty pages. He wrote "Toxophilus," a treatise upon archery, in which the necessity of exercise and recreation to the scholar is discussed. His chief work is entitled the Schole-master," a treatise on the study of languages. After the lapse of more than three centuries his views are mainly in accordance with those of the best scholars of our day.

66

[The benefit of a sound body for a sound mind.]

THIS perverse judgment of men hindereth nothing so much as learning, because commonly those that be unfittest for learning, be chiefly set to learning. As if a man nowadays have two sons, the one impotent, weak, sickly, lisping, stuttering, and stammering, or having any mis-shape in his body; what doth the father of such one commonly say? This boy is fit for nothing else, but to set to learning and make a priest of, as who would say, the outcasts of the world, having neither countenance, tongue, nor wit (for of a perverse body cometh commonly a perverse mind), be good enough to make those men of, which shall be appointed to preach God's holy word, and minister his blessed sacraments, besides other most weighty matters in the commonwealth; put oft times, and worthily, to learned men's discretion and charge; when rather such an office so high in dignity, so goodly in administration, should be committed to no man, which should not have a countenance full of comeliness, to allure good men, a body full of manly authority to fear ill men, a wit apt for all learning, with tongue and voice able to persuade all men. And although few such men as these can be found in a commonwealth, yet surely a goodly disposed man will both in his mind think fit, and with all his study labor to get such men as I speak of, or rather better, if better can be gotten, for such an high administration, which is most properly appointed to God's own matters and businesses.

This perverse judgment of fathers, as concerning the fitness and unfitness of their children, causeth the commonwealth have many unfit ministers and seeing that ministers be, as a man would say, instruments wherewith the commonwealth doth work all her matters withal, I marvel how it chanceth that a poor shoemaker hath so much wit, that he will prepare no instrument for his science, neither knife nor awl, nor nothing else, which is not very fit for him. The commonwealth can be content to take at a fond father's hand the riff

raff of the world, to make those instruments of wherewithal she should work the highest matters under heaven. And surely an awl of lead is not so unprofitable in a shoemaker's shop, as an unfit minister made of gross metal is unseemly in the commonwealth. Fathers in old time, among the noble Persians, might not do with their children as they thought good, but as the judgment of the commonwealth always thought best. This fault of fathers bringeth many a blot with it, to the great deformity of the commonwealth : and here surely I can praise gentlewomen, which have always at hand their glasses, to see if anything be amiss, and so will amend it; yet the commonwealth, having the glass of knowledge in every man's hand, doth see such uncomeliness in it, and yet winketh at it. This fault, and many such like, might be soon wiped away, if fathers would bestow their children always on that thing whereunto nature hath ordained them most apt and fit. For if youth be grafted straight and not awry, the whole commonwealth will flourish thereafter. When this is done, then must every man begin to be more ready to amend himself, than to check another, measuring their matters with that wise proverb of Apollo, Know thyself: that is to say, learn to know what thou art able, fit, and apt unto, and follow that.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH.

Sir Walter Raleigh, a colonist, adventurer, courtier, and author, fills a large space in the annals of the time of Queen Elizabeth. He was born in 1552, was educated at Oxford, and was beheaded in 1618. While in prison he wrote a "History of the World," a voluminous work, no longer valuable, but far superior to anything that had been written at the time. His poems are marked by energy of thought and considerable felicity of expression; and if his restless temperament had allowed him to devote himself to the quiet pursuit of letters, it is probable that few authors of his age would have earned a more enduring renown. The poem which is here given is not certainly known to be his, but of its authorship there is scarcely any doubt. Five stanzas of the original are here omitted.

THE LIE.

I.

Go, soul, the body's guest,

1

Upon a thankless arrant;'
Fear not to touch the best,
The truth shall be thy warrant ;
Go, since I needs must die,
And give the world the lie.

II.

Go, tell the court it glows,
And shines like rotten wood;
Go, tell the church it shows
What's good, and doth no good:
If church and court reply,
Then give them both the lie.

1 Errand. Arrant and errant were then common forms of the word.