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254

CHAUCER AND LOLLIUS-TROILUS AND CRESSIDE.

It is certain that Chaucer, in this piece, frequently refers to 'MYNE AUCTOR LOLLIUS1.' But he hints, at the same time, that Lollius wrote in Latin2. I have never seen this history, either in the Lombard or the Latin language. I have before observed, that it is mentioned in Boccacio's Decameron, and that a translation of it was made into Greek verse by some of the Greek fugitives in the fourteenth century. Du Fresne, if I mistake not, somewhere mentions it in Italian. In the royal library at Paris it occurs often as an ancient French romance. 'Cod. 7546. Roman de Troilus.'-' Cod. 7564. Roman de Troilus et de Briseida ou Criseida.'—Again, as an original work of Boccacio. 'Cod. 7757. Philostrato dell' amorose fatiche de Troilo per GIOVANNI 'BOCCACIO3. 'Les suivans (adds Montfaucon1) contiennent les autres œuvres de Boccace.' Much fabulous history concerning Troilus, is related in Guido de Columna's Destruction of Troy. Whatever were Chaucer's materials, he has on this subject constructed a poem of considerable merit, in which the vicissitudes of love are depicted in a strain of true poetry, with much pathos and simplicity of sentiment". He calls it, 'a litill tragedie.' Troilus is supposed to have seen Cresside in a temple; aud retiring to his chamber, is thus naturally described, in the critical situation of a lover examining his own mind after the first impression of love.

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1lib. i. vi. 395

2 Lib. ii. v. 10.

3 Boccacio's FILOSTRATO was printed in qto. at Milan, in 1488. The title is, 'Il FYOLOSTRATO, I che tracta de lo innamoramento de TROILO a GRYSEIDA: et de molte altre infinite battaglie. Impresso nella inclita cita de Milano par magistro Uldericho Scinzenzeler nell anno M. CCCCLXXXXVIII. a di xxvii di mese Septembre.' It is in the octave stanza. The editor of the CANTERBURY TALES informs me, that Boccacio himself, in his DECAMERON, has made the same honourable mention of this poem as of the THESEIDA: although without acknowledging either for his own. In the introduction to the Sixth Day, he says, that 'Dioneo insieme con Lauretta de TROILE ET DI CRISEIDA cominciarono cantare.' Just as, afterwards, in the conclusion of the Seventh Day he says, that the same Dioueo et Fiametta gran pezzi cantarono insieme D'ARCITA ET DI PALAMOE. CANTORT. T. vol. iv. p. 85. iii. p. 311. Chaucer appears to have been as much indebted to Boccacio in his TRAILUS AND CRESSEIDE, as in his KNIGHTES TALE. At the same time we must observe, that there are several long passages, and even episodes, in TROILUS, of which no traces appear in the FILOSTRATO. Chaucer speaks of himself as a translator out of Latin, B. ii. 14. And he calls his author LOLLIUS, B. i. 394.-421, and B. v. 1652. The latter of these two passages is in the PHILOSTRATO : but the former, containing Petrarch's sonnet, is not. And when Chaucer says, he translates from Latin, we must remember, that the Italian language was called Latino volgare. Shall we suppose, that Chaucer followed a more complete copy of the FILOSTRATO than that we have at present, or one enlarged by some officious interpolator? The Parisian MSS. might perhaps clear these difficulties. In Bennet library at Cambridge, there is a MSS. of Chaucer's TROILUS, elegantly written, with a frontispiece beautifully illuminated, LXI.

4 Bibl. p. 793. col. 2. Compare Lengl. Bibl. Rom. ii, p. 253.

Chaucer however claims no merit of invention in this poem. He invokes Clio to favour him with rhymes only; and adds,

-To everie lover I me' excuse

That of no sentiment I this endite But out of Latin in my tongue it write.

L. ii. v. 1o. seq. But Sir Francis Kinaston who translated TROILUS AND CRESSIDE [1635.] into Latin rhymes, says, that Chaucer in this poem 'has taken the liberty of his own inventions.' in the mean time, Chaucer, by his own references, seems to have been studious of seldom departing from Lollius. In one place, he pays him a compliment, as an author whose excellencies he could not reach. L. iii. v. 1330.

Bot sothe is, though I can not tellen all,

See also L. iii. 546, 1823.

6 L. ult. v. 1785.

As can mine author of his excellence.

And whan that he in chambre was alone,
He down upon his beddis fete him sette,
And first he gan to sihe1, and then to grone,
And thought aie on her so withoutin lette :
That as he satte and woke, his spirit mette

That he her saugh, and temple, and all the wise3
Right of her loke, and gan it newe avise1.

There is not so much nature in the sonnet to Love, which follows. It is translated from Petrarch; and had Chaucer followed his own genius, he would not have disgusted us with the affected gallantry and exaggerated compliments which it extends through five tedious stanzas. The doubts and delicacies of a young girl disclosing her heart to her lover, are exquisitely touched in this comparison :

And as the newe abashid nightingale

That stintith5 first, when she beginith sing,
When that she herith any herdis tale,
Or in the hedgis anie wight stirring,
And after sikir doth her voice outring;

Right so Cresseide when that her drede stents
Opened her herte and told him her intent9.

The following pathetic scene may be selected from many others. Troilus seeing Cresside in a swoon, imagines her to be dead. He unsheaths his sword with an intent to kill himself, and utters these exclamations.

1

And thou, cite, in which I live in wo,

And thou, Priam, and brethren al ifere1o,
And thou, my mother, farwel, for I go :
And, Atropos, make ready thou my bere:
And thou, Creseide, O sweet herte dere,
Receive thou now my spirit, would he say,
With swerd at hert all redy far to dey.

But as god would, of swough11 she tho abraide12,
And gan to sighe, and TROILUS she cride;
And he answerid, Lady mine Creseide,

Livin ye yet? And let his sword doune glide.
Yes, herte mine, that thankid be Cupide,
Quoth she and therwithall she sore sight13
And he began to glad her as he might.

Toke her in armis two, and kist her oft,
And her to glad he did all his entent:
For which her ghost, that flickered aie alofte
Into her woefull breast aien it went :

Sigh.

3 Manner.

Stops.

8 Her fears ceased. 11 Swoon.

2 Thought. Imagined.
4 L. i. v. 359:
A Shepherd.
9 L. iii. v. 1239-

6 Herdsman.

12 Then awaked.

7 With confidence. 10 Together. 13 Sighed.

256

PATHOS EVER AN EXCELLENCE IN CHAUCER.

But at the last, as that her eyin glent1
Aside, anon she gan his swerde aspie,
As it lay bere, and gan for fere to crie:
And askid him why he had it outdrawe?
And Troilus anon the cause hir tolde,

And how therwith himself he would have slawe :
For which Creseide upon him gan behold,
And gan him in her armis fast to fold;
And said, O mercy, God, to whiche a dede
Alas! how nere we werin bothe dede2!

Pathetic description is one of Chaucer's peculiar excellencies.

In this poem are various imitations from Ovid, which are of too peculiar and minute a nature to be pointed out here, and belong to the province of a professed and formal commentator on the piece. The Platonic notion in the third book3 about universal love, and the doctrine that this principle acts with equal and uniform influence both in the natural and moral world, are a translation from Boethius1 And in the KNIGHT'S TALE he mentions, from the same favorite system of philosophy, the FAIRE CHAINE OF LOVES. It is worth observing, that the reader is referred to Dares Phrygius, instead of Homer, for a display of the achievements of Troilus.

His worthi dedis who so lift him here,

Rede DARES, he can tel hem all ifere".

Our author, from his excessive fondness of Statius, has been guilty of a very diverting, and what may be called a double anachronism. He represents Cresside, with two of her female companions, sitting in a pavid parlour, and reading the THEBAID of Statius', which is called the Geste of the Siege of Thebes, and the Romance of Thebis9. In another place, Cassandra translates the arguments of the twelve books of the THEBAID10. In the fourth book of this poem, Pandarus endeavours to comfort Troilus with arguments concerning the doctrine

1 Glanced.

4 Consolat. Philosoph. L. Fairy Queen, ix. 1. iv. X. Boethius in this poem. 5 v. 2990. Urr. 9 L. ii. v. 100.

2 L. iv. v. 1205.

3 v. 1750.

ii. Met. ult. iii. Met. 2. Spenser is full of the same doctrine. See 34, 35, &c. &c. I could point out many other imitations from

6 L. iv. v. 1770.

7 L. ii. v. 81.

Bishop Amphiorax is mentioned, ib. v. 104.

All this I know my selve,

8 L. ii. v. 84. Pandarus says, v. 106.

And all the assiege of Thebes, and all the care;
For herof ben ther makid bokis twelve.

In his Dreme, Chaucer, to pass the night away, rather than play at chess, calls for a Romance;
in which were written fables of quenis livis and of kings, and many other thingis smale.' This
proves to be Ovid. v. 52. seq. See Man. of L. T. v. 55. Urr. There was an old French
Romance called PARTONEPEX, often cited by Du Cange and Carpentier. Gl. Lat. This is
Parthenopeus, a hero of the Theban story." It was translated into English, and called
PERTONAPE. See p. 123. supr.
I will add here, that Cresside proposes the trial of the Ordeal to Troilus.
L. iii. v. 1048. Troilus, during the times of truce, amuses himself with hawking. L. iii. v. 1785.

L. v. v. 1490.

of predestination, taken from Bradwardine, a learned archbishop and theologist, and nearly Chaucer's cotemporary1.

This poem, although almost as long as the Eneid, was intended to be sung to the harp, as well as read.

And redde where so thou be, or ellis songe3.

It is dedicated to the morall Gower, and to the philosophical Strode. Gower will occur as a poet hereafter. Strode was eminent for his scholastic knowledge, and tutor to Chaucer's son Lewis at Merton college in Oxford.

Whether the HOUSE OF FAME is Chaucer's invention, or suggested by any French or Italian poet, I cannot determine. But I am apt to think it was originally a Provencal composition, among other proofs, from this passage.

That had it standin upon OYSE,
I trow, to ROME sikerly3.

And ther came out so gret a noise, Men might have herd it esily, The Oyse is a river in Picardy, which falls into the river Seine, not many leagues from Paris. An Englishman would not have expressed distance by such an unfamiliar illustration. Unless we reconcile the matter, by supposing that Chaucer wrote this poem during his travels. There is another passage where the ideas are those of a foreign romance. To the trumpeters of renown the poet adds,

-All that usid clarion

In Casteloigne or Arragon1.

Casteloigne is Catalonia in Spain. The martial musicians of English tournaments, so celebrated in story, were a more natural and obvious allusion for an English poet.

This poem contains great strokes of Gothic imagination, yet bordering often on the most ideal and capricious extravagance. The poet, in a vision, sees a temple of glass,

In which were more images,
Sette in more riche tabernacles,
And more curious pourtraituris,

Of god stondinge in sundrie stages,
And with perre more pinnacles,
And quaint manir of figuris,

Of golde work than I sawe evir3.

On the walls of this temple were engraved stories from Virgil's Eneid,

1 In his book DE CAUSA DEI, published by Sir Henry Savile, 1617. He touches on this controversy, Nonne's Pr. T. v. 1349. Urr. See also Tr. Cr. L. iv. v. 961. seq.

2 L. ult. v. 1796.

3 L. ii. v. 838.

4 B. iii. v. 157.

5 MARCHAUNT'S TALE, 1231. p. 70. Urr. He mentions a rock higher than any in Spain, B. illi. v. 27. But this I believe was an English proverb.

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He swears by Thomas Beckett, B. GEOFFREY. B. ii. v. 221. But in two Among the musicians, he mentions

6 He mentions a plate of gold, As fine as duckett in Venise.' B. iii. v. 258. But he says, that the Galaxy is called Watlyng strete. B. ii. v. 431. iii. v. 41. In one place he is addressed by the name of others by that of PETER. B. i. v. 526. B. iii. v. 909. 'Pipirs of all the Duche tong.' B. iii. v. 144. 7 Jewels.

8 B. i. v. 120.

9 Where he mentions Virgil's hell, he likewise refers to Claudian De Raptu Proserpinæ, and Dante's Inferno. v. 450. There is a translation of a few lines from Dante, whom he calls 'the wise poet of Florence,' in the WIFE OF BATH'S TALE, v. 1125. p. 84. Urr. The story of

258 CHAUCER CARRIED TO THE HOUSE OF FAME AND DISCRIBES IT.

and Ovid's Epistles1. Leaving this temple, he sees an eagle with golden wings soaring near the sun.

-Faste by the sonne on hie,

Methought I sawe an eagle sore;

Then I had any egle

As kennyng smyght I with mine eie
But that it semid mochil more2,

sene3.

It was of gold, and shone so bright,

That nevir man saw suche a sight, &c.

The eagle descends, seizes the poet in his talons, and mounting again, conveys him to the House of Fame; which is situated, like that of Ovid, between earth and sea. In their passage thither, they fly above the stars; which our author leaves, with clouds, tempests, hail, and snow, far beneath him. This aerial journey is partly copied from Ovid's Phaeton in the chariot of the sun. But the poet apologises for this extravagant fiction, and explains his meaning, by alledging the authority of Boethius; who says, that Contemplation may soar on the wings of Philosophy above every element. He likewise recollects, in the midst of his course, the description of the heavens, given by Marcianus Capella in his book De Nuptiis Philologiæ et Mercuri, and Alanus in his Anticlaudian. At his arrival in the confines of the House of Fame, he is alarmed with confused murmurs issuing from thence, like distant thunders or billows. This circumstance is also borrowed from Ovid's temple. He is left by the eagle near the house, which is built of materials bright as polished glass, and stands on a rock of ice of excessive height, and almost inaccessible. All the southern side of this rock was covered with engravings of the names of famous men, which were perpetually melting away by the heat of the sun. The northern side of the rock was alike covered with names; but being here shaded from the warmth of the sun, the characters remained unmelted and uneffaced. The structure of the house is thus imagined.

-Me thoughtin by sainct Gile, Both the castle and the toure, Without pecis or joynynges,

That all was of stone of berille,
And eke the hall and everie boures:
And many subtill compassyngs,

Hugolin of Pisa, a subject which Sir Joshua Reynolds has lately painted in a capital style, is translated from Dante, 'the grete poete of Italie that hight Dante,' in the MONKES TALE, v. 877. A sentence from Dante is cited in the LEGENDE OF GOOD WOMEN, v. 360. In the FREERE'S TALE, Dante is compared with Virgil, v. 256.

1 It was not only in the fairy palaces of the poets and romance-writers of the middle ages, that Ovid's stories adorned the walls. In one of the courts of the palace of Nonesuch, all Ovid's Metamorphoses were cut in stone under the windows. Hearne, Coll. MSS. 55. p. 64. But the Epistles seems to have been the favorite work, the subject of which coincided with the gallantry of the times. 2 Greater.

3 The eagle says to the poet, that this house stands

'Right so as thine awne boke tellith."

B. ii. v. 204. This is, Ovid's Metamorphoses. See Met. L. xii. v. 40, &c.

4 B. i. v. 496. seq.

6 The MARCHAUNT'S TALE, V. 1248. p. 70. Urr. And Lidg. Stor. Theb. fol. 357

6 A famous book in the middle ages. There is an old French translation of it. Bibl. Reg. Paris. MSS. Cod. 7632.

7 See Met. xii. 39. And Virg. Æn. iv. 173. Val. Flacc. ii. 117. Lucan. i. 469.

8 Chamber.

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