tured. This fact becomes quite plain when one compares Chaucer's work with Wiclif's or with Piers Plowman.

Under Italian Influence. With the exception of The Death of Blanche no work of Chaucer written prior to his

thirtieth year calls for mention here. Before his next important work appeared he had visited various cities of Italy 1

1

1 It should, perhaps, be remarked that the Life of St. Cecilia, assigned to the Second Nun in the Canterbury collection, was probably written about the time of the first Italian journey. The Knight's Tale also may be a revision of an earlier work of the poet.

on government business, and had come under the influence of the great Italian writers, Boccaccio and Petrarch; and that of Dante, who had been dead fifty years and who was already a literary saint.

To this "period of Italian influence" belong The Parlement of Foules (Assembly of Birds); celebrating the betrothal of King Richard II in 1382; The House of Fame, an unfinished dream poem, the meaning of which is still in dispute; Troilus and Criseyde, a very free adaptation of Boccaccio's version of the Trojan hero's love story; and the Legend of Good Women, an apology (real or pretended) for earlier unfavorable presentations of women.

While he

"The Canterbury Tales "; (1) The Form. was writing the Legend, Chaucer was probably planning his greatest work, The Canterbury Tales, of which the Prologue and most of the tales may be dated between his forty-fifth and fiftieth years. For a number of tales sources have been found; for yet another number, close parallels; for the collection as a whole no model has been suggested offering resemblances enough to be worth discussing. The idea of setting a number of stories in a frame" is very old; but Chaucer's pilgrimage is distinctly a frame of his own making, the material of which he obtained from personal experience.

(2) The Plan. The plan of the Canterbury Tales, which should be read by all in Chaucer's own words, Prologue, lines 1-42, 715-858, is as follows:

The poet stopping one April evening at the Tabard Inn in Southwark (south side of the Thames, just across the bridge from Thames Street) finds a party of twenty-nine "sundry folk" gathered, ready to start next day on a pilgrimage to Canterbury especially to the tomb of Thomas à Becket the martyr. He becomes one "of their fellowship" immediately,

and decides to accompany them. The Host of the Tabard, Harry Bailly, also decides to join the party; and proposes that, in order to pass the time pleasantly, they tell stories on the road. Each pilgrim (except the Host) is to tell two stories on the way to Canterbury, and two on the way back; and he who tells the best will have a supper at the Tabard at the expense of the rest Harry Bailly being the judge, and (though he does not call attention to the fact) the provider of the meal.

(3) The Pilgrims. The portion of the Prologue from line 42 to line 715 contains descriptions of the pilgrims. This is the famous gallery of portraits which justifies Arnold's words of praise quoted above. Of gentle folk there are a Knight, a Prioress, a Clerk (Scholar), a Lawyer, a Doctor; of tradespeople, a Shipman, a Woman from Bath, a Manciple (Steward), a Merchant; of common people, a Miller, a Friar, a Summoner (a knavish official of the ecclesiastical court), a Cook, a Pardoner. Although in a sense these figures are types, they are strongly individualized. The poet has created persons representative of certain classes, yet with physical, mental, or moral peculiarities that distinguish each of them.

CHAUCER'S PRIORESS.

The Lawyer, for example, was the busiest man one could find

"And yet he semed bisier than he was."

The Cook was admirable in every part of his business; but it was a great pity that he had a bad sore on

his shin. The Squire was singing or playing the flute all day

"He was as fresh as is the month of May."

The Prioress had the daintiest table manners possible, and in addition

"She wolde wepe, if that she sawe a mous
Caught in a trappe, if it were deed or bledde.
Of smale houndes had she, that she fedde
With rosted flesh, or milk and wastel-breed.
But sore weep she if oon of hem were deed,
Or if men smoot it with a yerde smerte:
And al was conscience and tendre herte."

In contrast with the Prioress is the Wife of Bath, who, though she was "a worthy woman all her life," was nevertheless furious if any woman took precedence of her in church. Every student should know at least a few of these pictures exactly as the artist drew them.

If the plan set forth in the Prologue had been carried out, there would be about 125 tales. There are, in fact, only twenty-four, of which two are not finished (the Squire's, and Chaucer's own "Sir Thopas ") and a third (the Cook's) is not even well begun. To fulfil such a plan would require the whole of a long working life, and probably no poet at the outset of his career is capable of projecting so ambitious a work.

(4) The Tales. Of the completed tales probably the company (which would judge, naturally, by standards of their day, not of ours) would have voted the Knight's to be the best. This tale of the brothers Palamon and Arcite and their love for Emily has a wealth of detail of chivalric custom, and many magnificent pictures.

The pilgrims would doubtless have been highly entertained by the ribald tales of some of the commons, and touched by

the tragedy of Virginia as recounted by the Doctor. It is hard to think that they did more than endure the Parson's discourse on "The Seven Deadly Sins," eminently fitting though it was that he should choose such a theme. The

terbury Tales, the author is entitled to rank very high among literary artists for (1) the originality of his conception, (2) the wonderful group of human portraits, (3) the fitting of tale to teller, and (4) his power as a story-teller.