CHAUCER'S PROLOGUE AND KNIGHTES TALE (WITH GRAMMATICAL AND PHILOLOGICAL NOTES) DESIGNED TO SERVE AS AN INTRODUCTION LITERATURE BY STEPHEN H. CARPENTER, A.M. LATE PROFEssor of RHETORIC AND ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE BOSTON, U.S.A. GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS The Athenæum Press 1904 HARVARD Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY MRS. STEPHEN H. CARPENTER. COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY GINN & COMPANY TYPOGRAPHY BY J. S. CUSHING & Co., BOSTON, U.S.A. PRESSWORK BY GINN & Co., BOSTON, U.S.A. PREFACE. THIS book has been prepared with the design of affording the means of a critical study of the English Language to a younger class of pupils than have hitherto been able to pursue it profitably; and, as it is only from a careful study of literature that a thorough acquaintance with a language can be gained, the work is also intended to serve as an introduction to the study of English Literature. I have therefore endeavored to render the Notes and Glossary sufficiently full to remove every difficulty that would meet a student of average ability; intending, if erring on either side, to err on the side of giving too much rather than too little assistance. Particular attention has been given to the grammatical construction, in the belief that the true way to study a language is not from the dead rules of grammar, but from the living forms of literature. I see no reason why the English, studied with the same care and thoroughness which are given to the ancient classics, may not afford equal mental discipline; especially if an author be studied whose archaisms will prevent the common error of mistaking familiarity with forms and idioms for a critical knowledge of the structure of the language. |