II. IRREGULAR OR STRONG VERBS.

1. These verbs have a change of vowel in the past tense, and the past participle ends in en or -ë; as sterven, to die; pret. starf; p.p. storven or storve. (See Participles, p. xxxvii. 3.)

2. Some few strong verbs take the inflexions of the weak verbs, so that we have double forms for the past tense, as

Sleep (slep) and slep-te.

Creep (crep) and crep-te.

Weep (wep) and wep-te.

3. The 1st and 3rd persons of the past indicative of strong verbs do not take an -e in the singular number; the addition of this syllable turns them into plurals.

4. The East Midland dialect, in the Early English period, dropped the -e in the 2nd person past indicative; and we find in Chaucer 'thou bar,' 'thou spak,' 'thou dronk' (O.E. thou ber-e, thou spek-e, thou drunk-e), = thou barest, thou spakest, thou drankest. But these forms may be due merely to the scribes.

Occasionally we find -est, as in modern English; as bygonnest, hightest, knewest, &c.

5. The plural of the past indicative ends in -en or -e.

6. Some few verbs, as in the older stages of the language, have a change of vowel in the past tense plural, as—

1. The present subjunctive, singular number, terminates in -e, the plural in -en; the past in -ede, -de, -te, the plural in -eden, -den, -ten, through all persons.

2. Such forms as speke we, go we,= let us speak, let us go.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.

1. Verbs conjugated like loven and tellen, have the 2nd person sing. imperative in -e; as love thou, telle thou. All other verbs have properly no final e, as her thou' = hear thou, 'ches thou' = choose thou.

2. The plural terminates usually in -eth, but sometimes the -th is dropped.

INFINITIVE MOOD.

The infinitive ends in -en or -e; as speken, speke, to speak. The -n was dropped at a very early period in the Southern English dialect of the fourteenth century, and -e is preferred to -en.

The gerundial infinitive, or dative case of the infinitive (preceded by to), occasionally occurs, as to doon-e (=to don-ne), to seen-e (=to seen-ne), to do, to see. (See Prol. 1. 134.)

PARTICIPLES.

1. The present participle ends usually in -yng. The A.S. suffix was -ende, which is used by Gower; but in the Southern dialect of Early English we find -inde, which has evidently given rise to -inge, of which -yng is a shorter form; but the longer -ynge is occasionally employed by Chaucer, to rhyme with an infinitive verb in -e.

The suffix -ing, of nouns like morning, was -ung in the older stages of the language.

2. The past participle of weak verbs terminates in -ed, -d, and occasionally in -et, -t; those of strong verbs in -en or -e.

3. The prefix y- or i- (A.S. ge-) occurs frequently before the past participle, as i-ronne (run), i-falle (fallen), &c.

ANOMALOUS VERBS.

1. Ben, been, to be:-1st sing. pres. indic. am; 2nd art; 3rd beth, is; pl. beon, aren, are; past, 1st and 3rd was; and were. Imperative pl. beth; p.p. ben, been.

2. Conne, to know, be able :-pres. indic., 1st and 3rd can; 2nd

y The Northern form of the participle was -ande, -and, which occasionally occurs in Chaucer, as lepand, leaping; touchand, touching. The East Midland dialect had the double forms -end and -and.

can, canst; pl. connen, conne; past, 1st and 3rd couthe, cowthe, cowde; p.p. couth, coud.

3. Daren, dare:—pres. indic. sing., 1st and 3rd dar; 2nd darst; pl. dar, dorre; past dorste, durste.

4. May:-pres. indic. sing., 1st and 3rd mow, may; 2nd mayst, maist, might; pl. mowe, mowen; pres. subjunctive mowe; past tense, 1st and 3rd mighte, moghte.

5. Mot, must, may :—indic. pres. sing., 1st and 3rd mot, moot; 2nd must, most; pl. mooten, moote; past moste.

6. Owen, to owe (debeo):—pres. oweth; past oughte, aughte; pl. oughten, oughte.

7. Schal, shall:-pres. indic. sing., 1st and 3rd schal; 2nd schalt; pl. schullen, schuln, schul; past schulde, scholde.

8. Thar, need:-pres. indic. sing., 1st and 3rd thar; past thurte; subjunctive 3rd, ther.

9. Witen, to know:—pres. indic. sing., 1st and 3rd wat, wot ; 2nd wost; pl. witen, wite, woote; past wiste.

10. Wil, will:-pres. indic. sing., 1st wil, wol=wille, wolle; 2nd wilt, wolt; 3rd wile, wole, wol; pl. woln, wille, willen; past wolde.

NEGATIVE VERBS.

Nam, nys, -am not, is not; nas, nere,=was not, were not; nath=hath not; nadde, nad, had not; nylle, nyl, will not; nolde = would not; nat, not, noot, = knows not; nost = knowest not; nyste, nysten, = knew not.

ADVERBS.

1. Adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding -e to the positive degree; as brighte, brightly; deepe, deeply; lowe, lowly. 2. Some few adverbs have e before ly, as boldely, needely, softely, semely, treavely.

3. Adverbs in -en and -e:—abouen, aboue; abouten, aboute; biforn, bifore; siththen, siththe (since); withouten, withoute. Many have dropped the form in -n; as asondre, behynde, bynethe, bytene, biyonde; henne (hence), thenne (thence).

4. Adverbs in -e:—ofte, selde (seldom), soone, twie (twice), thrie (thrice).

5. Adverbs in -es :-needes (A.S. neáde), needs; ones (A.S. æne), once; ties (A.S. twiwa), twice; thries (A. S. thriwa), thrice. (a) -es for -e, -an or -a:-unnethes (A.S. uneáthe), scarcely; whiles (A.S. bawile), whilst; bysides (A.S. besidan); togideres (A. S. to-gædere).

(b) -es for -e or -en :- hennes (A. S. beonnan); thennes (A. S. thanan); whennes (A. S. bwanon), hence, thence, whence.

(c) -es=-st:—agaynes, ayens (A.S. agean), against; amonges (A. S. gemang), amongst; amyddes (A. S. amiddan, amiddes), amidst.

6. Of-newe, newly (cp. of yore, of late), recently; as-now, at present; on slepe, asleep (cp. on honting, a hunting, &c.).

7. Negative Adverbs. Two or more negatives (more common than one in Chaucer) do not make an affirmative.

'He nevere yit no vilonye ne sayde,

In al his lyf unto no maner wight.' (Prol. II. 70, 71.)

But (only) takes a negative before it; as, 'I nam but deed.' (Knightes Tale, 1. 416.)

8. As, used before in, to, for, by, = considering, with respect to, so far as concerns. See Prol. 1. 87.

As is used before the imperative mood in supplicatory phrases. See Knightes Tale, ll. 1444, 1459.

9. There, then, occasionally signify where, when.

PREPOSITIONS.

Occasionally til=to, unto = until, up=upon, uppon =on.

CONJUNCTIONS.

Ne...ne = neither... nor; other

...or; what... and both... and z.

=

=

or; other... other = either

z For a more detailed account of Chaucer's grammar, see Professor Child's Essay on Chaucer, from which I have derived much assistance.

METRE AND VERSIFICATION.

1. Except the Tale of Melibeus and the Persones Tale, the Canterbury Tales are written in rhyming verse; but this system of versification did not come into general use in England until after the Norman Conquest. The poetry of the AngloSaxons, like that of the Scandinavian and old Germanic races, was rhythmical and alliterative. Their poems are written in couplets, in such a manner that in each couplet there are three emphatic words, two in the first and one in the second, commencing with the same letter; and this letter is also the initial of the first emphatic, or accented word, in the second line.

'Gelic was he tham leohtum steorrum,

lof sceolde he drihtnes wyrcean,

dyran sceolde he his dreamas on heofonum,
and sceolde his drihtne thancian,

thas leanes the he him on tham leohte gescerede,

thonne lete he his hine lange wealdan:

ac he awende hit him to wyrsan thinge,

ongan him winn up-ahebban

with thone behstan beofnes wealdend,

the siteth on tham balgan stolea.'

(Cadmon, ed. Thorpe, p. 17, 11. 7-16.)

Langland's Vision of Piers Ploughman, written in 1362, presents all the peculiarities of this form of verse :—

'I was weori of wandringe,
And went me to reste
Undur a brod banke

Bi a bourne syde;

a Like was he (Satan) to the light stars;

The laud (praise) of the Ruler ought he to have wrought,
Dear should he hold his deligh's (joys) in heaven,

And thank his Director (Lord)

For the loan (gift) he had bestowed on him in that light (heaven),

Then would he have allowed him long to possess it;

But he did wrest (turn) it for himself to a worse purpose,

Began to raise up war

Against the bighest Ruler of heaven

Who sitteth on the boly stool (seat).