he did the same in the middle, whenever it gave a more harmonious flow to his metre; and therefore in ver. 4. instead of vértue, I suppose he pronounced, vertúe; in ver. 11. instead of náture, natúre; in ver. 25. instead of avénture, aventúre; in ver. 46. instead of hónour, honoúr, &c.

It may be proper however to observe, that we are not to expect from Chaucer that regularity in the disposition of his accents, which the practice of our greatest Poets in the last and the present century has taught us to consider as essential to harmonious (73) versification. None of his masters, either French or Italian, had set him a pattern of exactness (74) in this respect; and it is rather surprising,

(73) It is agreed, I believe, that, in our Heroic Metre, those Verses, considered singly, are the most harmonious, in which the Accents fall upon the even Syllables; but it has never, that I know, been defined, how far a verse may vary from this its most perfect form, and yet remain a verse. On the tenth (or riming) syllable a strong Accent is in all cases indispensably required; and in order to make the line tolerably harmonious, it seems necessary that at least two more of the even syllables should be accented, the fourth being (almost always) one of them. Milton however has not subjected his verse even to these rules; and particularly, either by negligence or design, he has frequently put an unaccented syllable in the fourth place. See P. L. b. iii. 36. 586. b. v. 413. 750. 874.

(74) It has been suggested above, that Chaucer probably

that, without rule or example to guide him, he has so seldom failed to place his accents in such a manner, as to produce the cadence best suited to the nature of his verse.

§ XVIII. I shall conclude this long and (I fear) tedious Essay, with a Grammatical and Metrical Analysis of the first eighteen lines of the Canterbury Tales. This will afford me an opportunity of illustrating at once a considerable part of that Theory, which I have ventured to propose in the preceding pages, with regard to the Language and Versification of Chaucer. The remainder I shall take occasion to explain in a few notes upon particular passages.

copied his Heroic Metre from Boccace. But neither Boccace nor any of the older Italian Poets are exact in the disposition of their accents. Though their Hendecasyllable Metre is allowed by the best Critics to be derived from the Trimeter Iambic Catalectic, the perfection of it has never been determined, like that of our Heroic Metre, to consist in the conformity of its Accents to the pure iambic measure. Quadrio, L. ii. Dist. iii. c. iv. Part. i. Nor does the King of Navarre always dispose his Accents more agreeably to our present notions. It is probable, I think, that some fundamental differences in the three languages may have led each of the three nations to prefer a different form of constructing the same kind of verse.

THE BEGINNING OF THE CANTERBURY TALES.

2

I. Whánne1 that Àpril wíth his shoúres sóte3 II. The droúghte of Márch hath pérced1 tó the róte,2 III. And báthed1 évery véine in swíche2 licoúr3, IV. Of whíche vertúe1 engéndred is the flour; V. Whan Zéphirús eke wíth his sóte1 bréthe VI. Enspíred1 háth in évery hólt and héthe

I. 1. Whanne, Sax. Hpæmne, is so seldom used as a Dissyllable by Chaucer, that for some time I had great doubts about the true reading of this line. I now believe that it is right, as here printed, and that the same word is to be pronounced as a Dissyllable in ver. 703.

But with these relikes whanne that he fond—

Thanne, a word of the same form, occurs more frequently as a Dissyllable. See ver. 12260. 12506. 12721. 13924. 15282. 2. Shoures, Dis. Plural number. See above, p. xxi.-3. Sote. See ver. 5.

II. 1. Perced, Dis. Participle of the Past Time. See above, p. cxl.—2. Rote; root.

III. 1. Batted, Dis. See II. 1.—2. Swiche, such; from Swilke, Sax.—3. licoúr, Fr. has the accent upon the last syllable, after the French mode.

IV. 1. Vertúe, Fr. may be accented in the same manner. There is another way of preserving the harmony of this verse, by making whiche (from whilke, Sax.) a Dissyllable. See ver. 1014. 3921. 5488. 6537. Vertue may then be pronounced, as it is now, with the accent on the first; the second syllable being incorporated with the first of engendred.

V. 1. Sote, swote, swete; sweet, Dis. See ver. 3219. 3699. 3724. 3765. 3790.

VI. 1. Enspired, Tris. Part. of Past Time.

2

VII. The téndre cróppes1, and the yónge sónne, VIII. Háth in the Rám his hálfe1 coúrs yrónne,2 IX. And smále1 foúles2 máken3 mélodíe,

X. That slépen álle2 níght with ópen éye,

2

XI. So príketh hém1 natúre in hir3 coráges';

VII. 1. Croppes, Dis. Pl. N. as shoures. I. 2.-2. Yonge, Dis. See ver. 213. 666. 1013. 3233, 73. It is used as a Dissyllable in the Ormulum. Col. 230.

That wás god bísne fúl i wís till úre yúnge génge. Stronge and Longe are pronounced in the same manner. ver. 2375. 2640, 6. 3069. 3438.3682.

See

VIII. 1. Halfe, or Halve, Dis. The original word is Halfen. So Selve, from Selfen, is a Dissyllable, ver. 2862. 4535.

2. Yronne; Run. Port, of the Past Time, with the Saxon prepositive particle ge, which in the Mss. of Chaucer is universally expressed by y, or i. In this Edition, for the sake of perspicuity, y only is used.

IX. 1. Smale, Dis. See ver. 146. 2078. 6897. 10207.—2. Foules, Dis. as Shoures. I. 2.—3. Maken; make. Plural Number of the Present Tense. See above, p. xci.

X. 1. Slepen, as Maken. IX. 3.—2. Alle, Dis. See ver. 76. 348. 536. 1854. 2102.

XI. 1. Hem; Them. It is constantly used so by Chaucer. 2. Nature should perhaps be accented on the last syllable (or rather the last but one, supposing it a trisyllable), after the French manner, though in the present case the verse will be sufficiently harmonious if it be accented on the first. That Chaucer did often accent it after the French manner appears from ver. 8778. 9842. 11657. 11945. 12229. In the same manner he accents Figúre, ver. 2037. 2045. Mesúre, ver. 8132. 8498. Asúre, Statúre, ver. 8130, 3. Peintúre, ver. 11967. Aventúre, ver. 1188. 1237. Creatúre, ver. 2397. 4884. and many other words of the same form, derived from the French language.—3. Hir; Their. The

XII. Than lóngen1 fólk to gón2 on pílgrimáges, XIII. And pálmer'es1 for to séken2 stránge3 stróndes,

XIV. To sérve1 hálwes2 coúthe3 in sóndry lóndes;

Possessive Pronoun of the third Person Plural is variously written, Hir, Hire, Her, and Here; not only in different Mss. but even in the same page of good Mss. There seems to be no reason for perpetuating varieties of this kind, which can only have taken their rise from the unsettled state of our Orthography before the invention of Printing, and which now contribute more than any real alteration of the language to obscure the sense of our old Authors. In this edition therefore, Hir is constantly put to signify Their; and Hire to signify Her, whether it be the Oblique case of the Personal Pronoun She, or the Possessive of the same Pronoun.—4. Coráges, Fr. is to be accented on the Penultima. See before, p. cxlvii. and also ver. 1947. 2215. To the other instances quoted in p. cxlvii. add, Avantáge, ver. 2449. 4566. Brocáge, 3375. Foráge, ver. 3166. Lináge, ver. 4270. 5419. Serváge, ver. 1948. 4788. Costáge, ver. 5831. Paráge, ver. 5832.

XII. 1. Longen, as Maken. IX. 3.—2. Gon, Infinitive Mode of Go, terminated in n according to the Saxon form. See above, p. xci.

XIII. 1. Pálmer'es, Dis. the e of the termination being cut out by Syncope, as it generally is in Plural Nouns of three Syllables, accented upon the first, and in the Past Tenses and their Participles of Verbs, of the same description, ending in ed. The reason seems to be, that, where the Accent is placed so early, we cannot pronounce the final syllables fully, without laying more stress upon them, than they can properly bear.—2. Seken, as Gon. XII. 2.—3. Strange, Dis. FR. See before, p. cxlii.

XIV. 1. Serve, Dis. from Serven, then being thrown away before h. See above, p. xci. and cxliv.—2. Halwes, Sax. þalger. The Saxon is changed into w, as in sorwe, morwe, and some