Chaucerian and Other Pieces. Various
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edition of it, entitled 'The Plouuman's tale compylled by syr Geffray Chaucer knyght.' Todd says: 'It is of the duodecimo size, in the black letter, without date, and imprinted at London in Paules churche-yarde at the sygne of the Hyll, by Wyllyam Hyll. I have compared with the poem as printed by Urry forty or fifty lines, and I found almost as many variations between them[12]. The colophon of this book is, Thus endeth the boke of Chaunterburye Tales. This rarity belongs to the Rev. Mr. Conybeare, the present Professor of the Saxon language in the University of Oxford.' This edition can no longer be traced. Hazlitt mentions a black-letter edition of this piece, printed separately by Thomas Godfray (about 1535), on twenty leaves; of which only one copy is known, viz. that at Britwell. There is also a late print of it in the Bodleian Library, dated 1606.
§ 21. It is needless to discuss the possibility that Chaucer wrote this Tale, as it is absent from all the MSS.; and it does not appear that the ascription of it to him was taken seriously. It is obvious, from the introductory Prologue (p. 147), that the author never intended his work to be taken for Chaucer's; he purposely chooses a different metre from any that occurs in the Canterbury Tales, and he introduces his Ploughman as coming under the Host's notice quite suddenly, so that the Host is constrained to ask him—'what man art thou?' The whole manner of the Tale is conspicuously and intentionally different from that of Chaucer; and almost the only expression which at all resembles Chaucer occurs in ll. 51, 52:—
'I pray you that no man me reproche
Whyl that I am my tale telling.'
Chaucer himself, before reciting his Tale of Melibeus, said much the same thing:—
'And let me tellen al my tale, I preye.'
I do not know why Mr. Wright, when reprinting this piece, omitted the Prologue. It is a pity that half of the sixth stanza is missing.
§ 22. At l. 1065 we meet with a most important statement:—
'Of freres I have told before
In a making of a Crede.'
It is generally agreed that the author here claims to have previously written the well-known piece entitled Pierce the Ploughman's Crede, which I edited for the Early English Text Society in 1867. I then took occasion to compare the language of these two pieces (which I shall shortly call the Crede and the Tale), and I found ample confirmation, from internal evidence, that the claim is certainly true. There are many similarities of expression, some of which I here lay before the reader.
| From the Crede. | From the Tale. |
| Curteis Crist (1, 140). | curteys Christ (482). |
| cutted cote (434). | cutted clothes (929). |
| y can nohȝt my Crede (8). | Suche that conne nat hir Crede (413). |
| At marketts and myracles, we medleth us nevere (107). | Market-beters, and medling make (871). |
| For we buldeth a burwȝ, a brod and a large (118). | And builde als brode as a citè (743). |
| portreid and peint (121). | I-paynted and portred (135). |
| peynt and portred (192). | |
| y sey coveitise catel to fongen (146). | To catche catell as covytous (385; cf. 856). |
| Of double worstede y-dyȝt (228). | With double worsted well y-dight (1002). |
| Than ther lefte in Lucifer, er he were lowe fallen (374). | As lowe as Lucifer such shall fall (124). |
| opon the plow hongen (421). | honged at the plow (1042). |
| povere in gost God him-self blisseth (521). | The pore in spirit gan Christ blesse (915). |
| ben maysters icalled, That the gentill Jesus … purly defended (574). | Maysters be called defended he tho (1115). |
| to brenne the bodye in a bale of fijr (667). | Thou shalt be brent in balefull fyre (1234). |
| Thei shulden nouȝt after the face … demen (670). | They nolde nat demen after th face (714). |
| Thei schulden delven and diggen and dongen the erthe, | Threshing and dyking fro town to town, |
| And mene mong-corn bred to her mete fongen (785). | With sory mete, and not half y-now (1043). |
| He miȝte no maistre ben kald, for Crist that defended (838). | Maysters be called defended he tho (1115). |
The Crede is written in alliterative verse; and it will be observed that alliteration is employed in the Tale very freely. Another peculiarity in the Tale may here be noticed, viz. the use of the same rime, fall or befall, throughout Part I, with the exception of ll. 205–228. Indeed, in the first line of Part II, the author apologizes for being unable to find any more rimes for fall, and proceeds to rime upon amend throughout that Part. In Part III, he begins to rime upon grace in the first two stanzas, but soon abandons it for the sake of freedom; however, at l. 1276, he recurs to grace, and continues to rime upon it till the end. It is clear that the author possessed considerable facility of expression. We can date these pieces approximately without much error. The proceedings against Walter Brute, expressly alluded to in the Crede, l. 657, lasted from Oct. 15, 1391, to Oct. 6, 1393, when he submitted himself to the bishop of Hereford. We may well date the Crede about 1394, and the Tale (which probably soon followed it, as the author repeats some of his expressions) about 1395[13].
Both these pieces are written in a spirited style, and are of considerable interest for the light which they throw upon many of the corrupt practices of the monks, friars, and clergy. The Crede is directed against the friars in particular, and reflects many of the opinions of Wyclif, as will easily appear by comparing it with Wyclif's works. See, in particular, his Fifty Heresies and Errors of Friars (Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 366). It would have been easy to crowd the Notes with quotations from Wyclif; but it is sufficient to point out so obvious a source. I have not observed any passage in which the author copies the exact language of Langland. The dialect seems to be some form of Midland, and is somewhat archaic; many of the verbal forms are of some value to the philologist. Taken altogether, it is a piece of considerable interest and merit. Ten Brink alludes to it as 'that transparent, half-prophetic allegory of the Quarrel between the Griffin and the Pelican'; and adds—'The Griffin was the representative of the prelates and the monks, the Pelican that of real Christianity in Wyclif's sense. At a loss for arguments, the Griffin calls in at last all the birds of prey in order to destroy its rival. The Phoenix, however, comes to the help of the Pelican, and terribly destroys the robber-brood.'
Tyrwhitt observed, with great acuteness, that Spenser's allusion, in the Epilogue to his Shepheards Calender, to 'the Pilgrim that the Ploughman playde awhyle,' may well refer to the author of the Plowman's Tale rather than to Langland[14]. Cf. p. 147, l. 12. It was natural that Spenser should mention him along with Chaucer, because their productions were bound up together in the same volume; a volume which was, to Spenser, a treasure-house of archaic words.
The discussion on points of religion between the Griffin and the Pelican clearly suggested to Dryden his discussion between the Hind and the Panther. His choice of quadrupeds in place of birds is certainly no improvement.
§ 23. III. Jack Upland.
Of this piece, no MS. copy is known. It is usually said to have been first printed by Speght, in his second edition of Chaucer's Works in 1602; but I have been so fortunate as to find a better and