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To Chaucer is assigned the third place among English poets, only Shakspeare and Milton ranking above him; and yet, to the mass of English readers, he is as much a stranger as Eschylus or Virgil, the slight archaism of his language being sufficient to repel all but special students. It is no credit to our scholarship that our own language has been thus neglected in our higher courses of study, whilst such ample provision has been made for the study of ancient and modern tongues. If this volume shall serve in any degree to awaken a more general interest in the critical study of a language which need not fear comparison with any, either ancient or modern, and familiarize our students with an author who for five centuries has maintained his place among the great poets of the world, its object will be fully realized.

The text here given is mainly that of Morris, in the Clarendon Press Series, to whose labors I am much indebted; occasionally, however, I have given a different reading, for reasons given in the Notes. I have referred to Morris's edition by the letter M.; to Tyrwhitt's, by the letter T.

My first design was to include extracts from the Vision of Piers Plowman; but as the diction of that poem differs so materially from that of Chaucer, -representing rather the language in its transitional state, — I have deferred an edition of that Poem until some future time.

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN,

October, 1872.

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INTRODUCTION.

LIFE OF CHAUCER.

Of the early life of GEOFFREY CHAUCER, but little is known. Even the date of his birth is uncertain. According to some authorities he was born at London in the year 1328; by others this event is placed as late as 1340. His writings reveal but the merest glimpses of his personal history, so that the only authentic data for an account of his life are a few scattered allusions in the public records. Both Oxford and Cambridge claim the honor of his education, but there is no certain evidence that he studied at either. He seems to have been of gentle blood, as we find him at a very early period of his life attached to the royal household.

In 1359, Chaucer joined the army of Edward III., which invaded France in November of that year. In the campaign which followed, he was taken prisoner, but was probably released upon the conclusion of the Great Peace in 1360. In 1367 he received a pension of twenty marks, in consideration of past and future services. From 1370 to 1380, Chaucer was in the royal service, being employed on various diplomatic missions, which

he discharged so successfully as to receive additional tokens of favor. In the prosecution of these duties he travelled extensively, visiting the Low Countries, and Italy, then the resort of learned men, - and where he formed the acquaintance of Petrarch, then in the full splendor of his fame.

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Chaucer's wife was Philippa de Roet, whose sister Katharine was afterwards wife of John of Gaunt, the founder of the powerful House of Lancaster, to whose fortunes the poet was thus naturally attached. While Richard II. was under the influence of this powerful nobleman, Chaucer enjoyed the royal favor, but, as the Duke's influence waned, the poet was reduced to poverty. Richard II. came to the throne upon the death of his grandfather, in 1378. Being but twelve years of age, the government was placed in the hands of a council composed of his three uncles, the Dukes of Lancaster, York, and Gloucester. The insurrection under Wat Tyler was hardly quelled, when a contest arose between the nobles, which did not end until Henry Bolingbroke, son of John of Gaunt, ascended the throne from which Richard had been deposed by the act of Parliament.

For a time Richard continued the favor which Edward III. had shown the poet; in 1386, however, Chaucer was dismissed from all his offices, and his pensions were reduced, for some reason which has not been very satisfactorily explained. It is probably owing to this fact that we possess the Canterbury Tales, - the work by which he is best known. His active and cultivated mind, relieved from the cares and duties of public life, sought a more congenial employment in literature, which he had already cultivated to a degree remarkable for that age.

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