As it semeth to owre syght that suche men thryveth;

And somme murthes 37 to make as mynstralles conneth, 38

And geten gold with here 33 glee, giltles, I leve, 39

Ac iapers 40 and iangelers, 1 Iudas chylderen, Feynen hem 42 fantasies and foles hem maketh, And han here witte at wille to worche, yif thei 'sholde;

That Poule precheth of hem I nel nought preve it here;

Qui turpiloquium loquitur is luciferes hyne. 43 Bidders 44 and beggeres fast aboute yede, 45 With her belies and her bagges of bred ful ycrammed;

41

44 beggars

45 went

40 cheated

47 fought at the ale 48 knows

27 strictly

4D they

28 of

the Heaven

Kingdom

of

50 ribaldry

87 mirth

38 know how 89 believe

40 jesters

51 those robber villains 62 sloth

53

pursue

54 ever

55 Palmers made it their regular duty to visit shrines

56 a shrine at Compostella in Galicia

57 at every 38 truth

59 in

60 shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham (Norfolk) almost more celebrated than Thomas à Becket's

61 in their train

One of the most important pieces of literature in the English language is the Bible. Its influence has been evident from early in the eighth century when Bede, on his death bed, made a translation of the Gospel of St. John into Old English. In the time of King Alfred other portions were added; Aelfric (c. 1000) did parts of both testaments; but there was no complete Anglo-Saxon Bible.

During the religious revival of the thirteenth century there were many attempts to translate the Latin Bible into English; but up to 1360 only the Psalter had been finished. In 1382 John Wiclif and his fellow workers produced the firs complete English Bible. The printed English Bible began with the New Testament of Tyndale, 1525. In 1535 Miles Coverdale in a new translation published the first complete English Bible, including the Apocrypha, which the Church allowed to circulate freely. In 1539 appeared the Great Bible, copies of which were placed in all parish churches. The Geneva Bible, 1560, the work of English refugees in Switzerland, issued in a handy edition, was especially accurate. These various translations naturally represented the popular diction of each period. Notably in 1611, came the authorized King James version, still standard today; it was the result of a careful comparison of all previous versions, including the Hebrew and the Greek, by all the best scholars of the kingdom. Its influence on the English language has been incalculable. No other book has so penetrated and permeated the hearts and speech of the English speaking peoples; it is a racial possession, a racial classic. Its effect can be traced on all the great authors. Its language is dignified and poetic, filled with Saxon simplicity and Hebrew imagery. A later revision (1885), though perhaps closer to the original Hebrew and Greek, lacks the charm of expression of the King James Bible.

THE WYCLIF BIBLE1 MATTHEW III. THE COMING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

In tho daies Joon Baptist cam and prechid in the desert of Judee, and seide, Do ye penaunce, for the kyngdom of hevenes schal nygh.

For this is he of whom it is seid bi Isaie the

profete, seiynge, A vois of a crier in desert, Make ye redi the weyes of the Lord, make ye right the pathis of hym. And this Joon hadde clothing of camels heris, and a girdil of skyn aboute his leendis, and his mete was hony soukis 2 and hony of the wode. Thanne Jerusalem wente out to hym, and al Judee, and al the countre aboute Jordan, and thei werun waischen of hym in Jordan, and knowlechiden her synnes.

But he sigh many of Farisies and of Saduces comynge to his baptem, and seide to hem, Generaciouns of eddris, 3 who schewid to you to fle fro wrath that is to come? Therfor do ye worthi fruytis of penaunce. And nyle ye seie * with ynne you, We han Abraham to fadir; for I seie to you that God is myghti to reise up of thes stones the sones of Abraham. And now the axe is putte to the root of the tre; therfor every tre that makith not good fruyt schal be kutte doun, and schal be cast in to the fire.

I waisch you in watyr in to penaunce; but he that schal come aftir me is stronger than I, whos schoon I am not worthi to bere; he schal baptise you in the Holi Goost, and fier. Whos wenewynge clooth is in his hond, and he schal fulli clense his corn floor, and schal gadere his whete in to his berne; but the chaf he schal brenne with fier that mai not be quenchid.

Thanne Jhesus cam fro Galilee in to Jordan to Joon, to be baptisid of him. Jon forbede hym and seide, I owe to be baptisid of thee, and thou comest to me? But Jhesus answerid and seide to hym, Suffre now; for thus it fallith to us to fulfille alle rightfulnesse. Then Joon suffrid hym. And whanne Jhesus was baptisid, anon he wente up fro the watir; and lo, hevenes weren opened to hym, and he say the spirit of God comynge doun as a dowve, and comynge on him. And lo, a vois fro hevenes, seiynge, This is my loved sone, in whiche I have plesid to ine.

6

In those daies came John the Baptist, preaching in the wildernesse of Judea, and saying, Repent yee; for the kingdome of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the Prophet Esaias, saying, The voyce of one crying in the wildernesse, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camels haire, and a leatherne girdle about his loynes, and his meate was locusts 7 and wilde honie. Then went out to him Hierusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordane. And were baptized of him in Jordane, confessing their sinnes.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his Baptisme, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meete for repentance. And thinke not to say within your selves, Wee have Abraham to our father; For I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is layd unto the roote of the trees; Therefore every tree which bringeth not foorth good fruite, is hewen downe, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that commeth after mee, is mightier than I, whose shooes I am not worthy to beare, hee shall baptize you with the holy Ghost, and with fire. Whose fanne is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floore, and gather his wheate into the garner; but wil burne up the chaffe with unquenchable fire. Then commeth Jesus from Galilee to Jordane, unto John, to be baptized of him; But John forbade him, saying, I have need to bee baptized of thee, and commest thou to me?

And Jesus answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becommeth us to fulfill all righteousnesse. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when hee was baptized, went up straightway out of the water; and loe, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him. And loe, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Soone, in whom I am well pleased.

See Isaiah xl, 3.

1611

In the desert countries of the Orient, the flesh of the locust, or grasshopper, has from time im. memorial been used for food. See Browning's "Saul," 1. 75. Some commentators suggest that the food was the pod of the wild locust tree, sometimes called St. John's bread.

The England of the latter half of the fourteenth century lives for us through the genius of Geoffrey Chaucer. In his works are preserved men and women of most of the important types of the English society of his day, their costumes, their habits, individual peculiarities, and details that transform them into living realities. Thanks to modern research we know enough of his life to understand how he gained his wide knowledge of human nature. In the course of his varied career he may have come into actual contact with some of those he so vividly describes. As a boy he lived in London, where his father was a well-to-do vintner. A little later Geoffrey was a page in the household of Prince Lionel; in 1359 he went with the army of Edward III to France, where he was taken prisoner, the king subscribing £16 toward his ransom. On returning to England he became a valet of the king's chamber, and then collector of customs. Between 1370 and 1380 he was employed on several important diplomatic missions to France, Italy, and Flanders, on one of which he possibly met the great Italian poet Petrarch; the influence of these journeys is seen in his work. He came into lands, was knight of the shire of Kent, married Philippa Roet, sister to John of Gaunt's third wife; and though his fortunes fluctuated at times, he was the recipient of various pensions.

That Chaucer was a student and widely read in French and Latin as well as English literature is proved by his writings. As was customary in medieval and even Elizabethan times, he borrowed profusely from other authors and openly acknowledged his indebtedness; but he had Shakespeare's gift of transforming what he used, making it his own. Coleridge writes, "I take unceasing delight in Chaucer. How exquisitely tender he is, and yet how perfectly free from the least touch of sickly melancholy or morbid drooping! The sympathy of the poet with the subjects of his poetry is particularly remarkable in Shakespeare and Chaucer; but what the first effects by a strong act of imagination and mental metamorphosis, the last does without any effort, merely by the inborn joyousness of his nature. How well we seem to know Chaucer! How absolutely nothing do we know of Shakespeare!"

1

Chaucer was the first English poet to practice a wide variety of line and stanza forms, and to employ the iambic pentameter; the melody and flexibility of his verse are unequaled by any of his contemporaries; and in the outdoor freshness that breathes through it he is a forerunner of Burns and Wordsworth. Besides the famous Canterbury Tales, his works include Troilus and Criseyde, his longest single poem, a narrative with so strong an emphasis on character that it has been called a forerunner of the nineteenth century novel; Parlement of Foules; Hous of Fame; Legend of Good

1 See J. L. Lowes, Convention and Revolt in Poetry, 1919, ch. 3; also Dryden "On Chaucer" in the present volume, p. 314.

short, prose and verse. There is still much uncertainty as to the actual number of his writings and their dates of composition, numerous Middle English poems having been wrongly included among his works.

The best edition is that of W. W. Skeat, 6 vols., 1895-97; for handy editions there are Skeat's Students' Chaucer, and Pollard's Globe edition, which contains a long and useful introduction. Other valuable books are: J. J. Jusserand, English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages, 1890 (1903); T. R. Lounsbury. Studies in Chaucer, 3 vols; 1891; A. W. Pollard, Chaucer, 1893, W. P. Ker, Epic and Romance, 1897; F. J. Snell, The Age of Chaucer, 1901 (1912); G. K. Root, The Poetry of Chaucer, a Guide to its Study and Appreciation, 1906; G. L. Kittredge, Chaucer and His Poetry, 1915; J. M. Manly, Some New Lights on Chaucer, 1926, an interesting attempt to identify some of the chief characters in the Prologue; R. D. French, A Chaucer Handbook, 1927. See also Hazlitt, Lowell, Rossetti (EML).

au, awah'oo (nearly equal to modern ou in house: straunge.

=

e long ai as in pair: bere [bearë]. e short e as in tèn: hem.

e finalë (pronounced as a very light separate syllable, like the final e in the German eine. So also is es of the plural): soote [sohtë]. It is regularly elided before a following vowel, before he, his, him, hire (her), here (their), hem (them), and occasionally before other words beginning with h, also in hire, here, oure, etc.

ea, ee

our long a; eek [āke]. ei, ey ei as in weigh

eu, ewe+u: hewe [hewë].

i longee (nearly): shires [sheer-es]. i shorti in pin: with.

o, oo long oa in oar: roote [nearly rōtë]. o shorto in coffee.

oi, oy oo'ee (nearly equal to modern oi): floytinge [floiting].

ou, ow= our oo in rood in words that in Mod. Eng. have taken the sound of ou in loud: hous [hoos].

ou, ow= oh oo in words that now have the ō sound: soule, knowe [sōlë, knowë].

u long :

=

French u (found only in French words): vertu [vehrtü].

u short u in pull: but.

ck before a, o, u, or any consonant.

s before e, i, y.

8= hard in words not of French origin. gj before e, i, in words of French origin. ghch, like the German ch in nicht.