19. Chaucer's priest is a man among men, but filled with the spirit of Christ. He is neither condescending nor haughty; he does not "keep" an over-nice conscience; and his own good works precede his teaching. He has the most real sympathy with and pity for sinful men; and no weather can stop his going to the farthest end of his parish, if he hears that trouble or misfortune has visited any of his parishioners. Dryden has misconceived the whole character. His priest is an ascetic, and not a neighbourly man; a pompous ecclesiastic, with an enthusiasm for ecclesiastical virtues, not a man full of love and kindness for his parishioners. Chaucer's lines describe real feelings and facts; Dryden's are full of abstract terms, "pleasing sanctity," "charity," and "venerable grace." Chaucer's priest takes his staff in rain and storm to go and comfort his people when in sickness or in misfortune; but Dryden's puts himself in some impossible aërial position, lets down a golden chain, and draws his audience upward "to the sky." Chaucer's priest stints himself in his food and dress, to give to his "pore parisschens"; but Dryden's treats them to "holy hymns" and a "music more melodious than the spheres." Dryden's priest torments his soul, and makes "almost a sin of abstinence" (an ecclesiastical virtue); Chaucer's "cowde in litel thing han suffisánce" (a real virtue). Chaucer's priest feeds his flock; Dryden's only tickles and "charms" them. Dryden's style is sonorous, powerful, and somewhat pompous; Chaucer's is a homely, manly, and English representation of the facts. Dryden's artificial ("unnatural") love of antithesis is visible in the lines :

(a) Rich was his soul, though his attire was poor.

19

1 Persoun parson. The two words were originally one; the parson was the person (or representative) of the Church.

2 Toun-farm-town. The word originally meant enclosure, and has been enlarging in meaning since the fifth century.

3 Work. 4 Wonderfully.

5 Sithes times. From this word we have sithennes from that time, now contracted into since.

6 Very unpleasant it was to him (the dative). Tythe is a form of tenth. So twenty twain-ty.

7 Parishioners.

9 Sufficiency.

11 Misfortune.

8 Han-haven, the infinitive.

10 Left not, i.e., did not omit.

12 Great.

13 The gh in taught represents the ch in teach, which must at one time have

sounded hard.

14 Pitiless.

17 Rank.

19 Here Dryden's grainmar is wrong: he means that of the spheres."

(b) Refined himself to soul, to curb the sense.
(c) He taught the gospel rather than the law.

In Chaucer every statement tells, every word goes straight to the heart of the reader; Dryden's abstract and vague style it is difficult to grasp, and much of his description eludes and evades our attempts. 20. Valid objections might further be brought against Dryden's style in these lines. (a) An awful man, is hardly English; religious the parson was by profession. (b) To diffuse a grace is probably not an English combination; and it does not make the grace any better to call it venerable. If charity itself means charity in person, this was impossible; if it means the very spirit of charity, the expression itself is inadequate. (c) There is no necessary opposition between a rich soul and poor attire; and therefore the conjunction though is too strong. (d) The notion of carrying abstinence so far as to make it a sin, is derived from the abstract notions of goodness bequeathed by the schoolmen. With them evil and good had no reference to persons, but were good and evil in and for themselves. (e) Nothing of severe is French. Promised him sincere is no language at all. (f) Was to see is also French; so is sweet regards. (g) His accent. This use of the word is French. Free action" can be better predicated of a horse. (h) Armed with innate eloquence is doubtful English; and the grammar of the next line is worse than doubtful. (i) The for hardly gives a reason. The simile of the golden chain (his eloquence) is not very happy. (j)" Charmed their ears." We should have expected souls. (k) “David left him his lyre." This is an untruthful and reckless ignoring of all the writers of sacred hymns between David and Chaucer's priest. It looks as if Dryden were willing to sacrifice everything for effect. (1) “He softened all he spoke." This is not very intelligible. (m) The zeal was only becoming. One would have expected a stronger type of zeal from this "awful and reverend man." (n) The last line is poor, both in thought and in expression.-The whole is merely a clever mosaic of strong or of highly-coloured phrases; a self-consistent idea of the character was not present in Dryden's mind.

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21. But Wordsworth, who was much nearer in feeling, though not in time, to Chaucer, renders him into modern English with far greater success. Wordsworth was a sincere man, with the deepest contempt for second-hand phrases, and for any ornamentation that

CHAUCER.

This litel child, his litel boke lernynge,
As he sat in the scole1 in his primére, 2
He Alma Redemptoris3 herdë synge,
As children lerned her antiphonére ;5

And, as he durst, he drough him nere and nere,7
And herkned ay the wordës and the note,

Til he the firstë vers couthe3 al by rote.

Nought wist he what this Latyn was to say,9
For he so yong and tender was of âge; 10
But on a day his felaw 11 gan he pray
Texpounden 12 him 13 the song in his langage, 14
Or telle him what this song was in usage; 15
This prayd he him to construe and declare,
Ful oftë tyme up on his knowes bare.16

His felaw, which that elder was then 17 he,
Answerd 18 him thus: "This song, I have herd seye,
Was maked of 19 our blisful Lady fre,

Hire to salue, and eek hir for to preye

To ben our help and socour whan we deye.

I can no more expounde in this matére;
I lernë song, I 20 but smal grammér."

can

This holy monk, this abbot, him mene I,
His tonge out caught, and took awey the greyn
And he yaf 21 up the gost ful softely.
And whan this abbot hath this wonder seyn,
His saltë terës striken 22 down as reyn:
And gruf 23 he fel al plat upon the grounde,
And stille he lay, as he had ben y-bounde.24

The Prioress's Tale.

did not spontaneously grow out of the subject itself; and he turns Chaucer into our newer English with the minimum of alteration. A comparison of the two versions-word for word, and phrase for phrase-will be highly instructive to the young student.

WORDSWORTH.

This little child, while in the school he sate,

His primer conning with an earnest cheer,
The whilst the rest their anthem book repeat
The Alma Redemptoris did he hear;

And, as he durst, he drew him near and near,
And hearkened to the words and to the note,
Till the first verse he learned it all by rote.

This Latin knew he nothing what it said,
For he too tender was of age to know;
But to his comrade he repaired, and prayed
That he the meaning of this song would show,
And unto him declare why men sing so;

This oftentimes, that he might be at ease,

This child did him beseech on his bare knees:

His schoolfellów, who elder was than he,

Answered him thus:-" This song, I have heard say,
Was fashioned for our blissful Lady free;

Her to salute, and also her to pray

To be our help upon our dying day:

If there is more in this, I know it not;

Song do I learn,-small grammar I have got."

(The little boy falls into the hands of his enemies, and "his throat is cut unto the nekkë-bone"; but he cannot die until a grain that has been "laid under his tongue" is removed.

This holy monk, this abbot,-him mean I,

Touched then his tongue, and took away the grain;

And he gave up the ghost full peacefully;

And, when the abbot had this wonder seen,

His salt tears trickled down like showers of rain;

And on his face he dropped upon the ground,

And still he lay as if he had been bound.

1 Scole. Chaucer has a verb from it: to scoleye to go to school, or to study.

2 First or lowest form.

3 Alma Redemptoris Mater=kindly Mother of the Redeemer; the beginning of a Latin hymn.

4 Their.

5 Antiphonarium a hymn-book, with part songs.

6 Drew. The w in draw stands instead of an old gh. This appears as g in drag, which is the same word as draw, and as y in dray, a third form of the same word. Thus we have drag, draw, dray, draggle, drawl, trail, and all from one

root.

7 Nearer and nearer. The two words in the text are the comparative; and hence Wordsworth is wrong. The old positive was neah, still found in nigh and neighbour; but a southern trick of pronunciation added an r to it, as some people still say idear, Mariar. The comparative was formed by re; hence neahre, contracted into nerre, nerë, or ner.

8 Couthe, past of can=know.

9 Past of is-to-say. That was-to-say that meant.

10 To be pronounced in the French manner.

11 Companion. So in schoolfellow, etc.

12 Expound. But the d is intrusive. The proper word is expone. So propone has become propound. A d after an n seems to give a rest; and hence the classes who read little still say gownd, drownded. The d is also intrusive in sound, thunder, yonder; and in the German Abend, etc.

13 The dative to him.

14 The accent is on the last syllable. In Chaucer's time the accent was varying between French and English usage (the English take it as far back in the word as possible); and Chaucer takes advantage of this. He says, according to the demands of his verse, honour and honoúr, lángage and langage, etc.

15 What this song was used for.

16 This line is an excellent example of the sounding of the final e. Chaucer has Romë, tymë, havë, etc. This usage marks the fact that English was still, to some extent, an inflected language.

17 Than. The two words are different forms of the same word; than being a northern pronunciation, and then a southern. Compare Pall Mall (pronounced in Manchester like the a in Sally, and in London Pell Mell); bank, bench, etc. But the "genius" of the language, finding two pronunciations, set them to perform two different functions. He is taller then I (come next in tallness)"=

He is taller than I."

18 A compound of swear.

19 About. Wordsworth's version is wrong.

20 Know. Ken is a form still nearer to can.

21 Gave. The imperative was gyf; hence our if, which means give or grant. The vanishing of the g at the beginning of a word is very common. Compare genug enow or enough; Gypennswich Ipswich.

22 Strike. As a black thundercloud holds back, or seems to hold back, its rain for some time, and then all of a sudden lets it go, and the large heavy drops strike down from the sky; so from the abbot, who had long restrained his soul, but was quite broken down when he saw the quiet death of the little lad, the wonder and pity pent up in his brain burst forth, and the big thunderdrop tears fell heavy and fast.

23 Gruf gruflings, hence grovelling. So in Old English "He fell naselings"=on "Out went the candle, and we were left darkling" in the dark.

his nose.

(Shakspeare.)

24 y=the older ge. In Milton we have yclept-called; but this, in him, is an archaism. Compare also his y-pointing, which is wrong, as the y is the prefix of the past participle, not of the present.