EXTRACT XX.

A.D. 1549.

THE BISHOP AND ROBIN HOOD.

By HUGH LATIMER. [See p. 47, and also p. 49.]

'Euer thys office of preachynge hath bene least regarded, it hath skante hadde the name of goddes seruyce. I came once myselfe to a place, ridyng on a iornay home warde from London, and I sente worde ouer nyghte into the toune that I would preach there in ye morninge because it was holy day, and me thought it was an holye dayes worcke, the churche stode in my waye, and I toke my horsse and my companye, and went thither, I thoughte I shoulde haue found a greate companye in the churche, and when I came there, the churche dore was faste locked.

'I tarried there halfe an houer and more, at last the keye was founde, and one of the parishe commes to me and sayes. Syr thys is a busye daye wyth vs, we can not heare you, it is Robyn hoodes daye. The parishe are gone a brode [abroad] to gather for Robyn hoode, I praye you let [prevent] them not. I was fayne there to geue place to Robyn hoode, I thought my rochet shoulde haue bene regarded, thoughe I were not; but it woulde not serue, it was fayn to geue place to Robyn hoodes men.'

[Seven Sermons before Edward VI. on each Friday in Lent, 1549 (Arber's Reprint, 1869), 173.]

EXTRACT XXI.

A.D. 1557.

THE PARABLE OF THE TARES IN THE WHEAT.

From the GENEVA BIBLE. [See also pp. 233 and 238.]

'Another similitude put he forth vnto them, saying, The kyngdome of heauen is like vnto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, there came his fo, & sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. And when the blade was sprong vp & broght forth frute, then appeared the tares also.

Then came the seruantes of the householder, & sayd vnto him, Syr soweddest not thou good seed in thy close, from whence then hath it tares? And he said to them, the enuious man hath done this. Then the seruantes sayd vnto hym, Wylt thou then that we go and wede them out? But he said, Nay, lest while ye go about to wede out the tares, ye pluck vp also with them the wheat. Let both growe together tyl haruest come, and in tyme of haruest, I wyl say to the repers, gather ye fyrst the tares, & bind them in sheues to be burned: but gather the wheat into my barne.'

[Geneva Bible, 1557, as printed in Bagster's English Hexapla, 1841.]

EXTRACT XXII.

A.D. 1570.

THE APOLOGY FOR THE SCHOOLMASTER.'

By ROGER ASCHAM. [See p. 69.]

'Wise men I know, will well allow of my choise herein and as for such, who haue not witte of them selues, but must learne of others, to iudge right of mens doynges, let them read that wise Poet Horace in his Arte Poetica, who willeth wisemen to beware, of hie and loftie Titles. For, great shippes, require costlie tackling, and also afterward dangerous gouernment: Small boates, be neither verie chargeable in makyng, nor verie oft in great ieoperdie: and yet they cary many tymes, as good and costlie ware, as greater vessels do. A meane Argument, may easelie beare, the light burden of a small faute, and haue alwaise at hand, a ready excuse for ill handling: And some praise it is, if it so chaunce, to be better in deede, than a man dare venture to seeme. A hye title, doth charge a man, with the heauie burden, of to great a promise: and therefore sayth Horace verie wittelie, that, that Poete was a verie foole, that began hys booke, with a goodlie verse in deede, but ouer proude a promise.'

Fortunam Priami cantabo et nobile bellum,

And after, as wiselie,

Quantò rectiùs hic, qui nil molitur ineptè, &c.' *

[The Scholemaster, 1570, 65 (Arber's Reprint, 1870).]

THE FIRST ADVENTURE OF THE FAERY QUEENE.'

By EDMUND SPENSER. [See p. 54.]

In the beginning of the feast, there presented him selfe a tall clownish younge man, who falling before the Queene of Faeries desired à boone (as the manner then was) which during that feast she might not refuse: which was that hee might have the atchievement of any adventure, which during that feast should happen; that being granted, he rested him selfe on the floore, unfit through his

*The whole of the passage runs thus:

'Don't open like the cyclic, with a burst:

"Troy's war and Priam's fate are here rehearsed."
What's coming, pray, that thus he winds his horn?

The mountain labours and a mouse is born.

Far better he who enters at his ease,

Nor takes your breath with empty flourishes:

"Sing, Muse, the man who, after Troy was burned,

Saw divers cities, and their manners learned."'

Conington's Translation of the Satires, &c., 1871, 177.

rusticitie for a better place. Soone after entred a faire Ladie [Una] in mourning weedes, riding on a white Asse, with a dwarfe behind her leading a warlike steed, that bore the Armes of a knight, and his speare in the dwarfes hand. She falling before the Queene of Faeries, complayned that her father and mother, an ancient King and Queene, had bene by a huge dragon many yeers shut up in a brazen Castle, who thence suffered them not to issew : and therefore besought the Faery Queene to assigne her some one of her knights to take on him that exployt. Presently that clownish person upstarting, desired that adventure; whereat the Queene much wondering, and the Lady much gaine-saying, yet he earnestly importuned his desire. In the end the Lady told him, that unlesse that armour which she brought would serve him (that is, the armour of a Christian man specified by Saint Paul, v. [vi.] Ephes.) that he could not succeed in that enterprise : which being forth-with put upon him with due furnitures thereunto, he seemed the goodliest man in al that company, and was well liked of the Lady. And eftesoones taking on him knighthood, and mounting on that straunge Courser, he went forth with her on that adventure: where beginneth the first booke, viz.

A gentle Knight was pricking on the playne,' &c.

[Letter to Sir Walter Raleigh, dated 23 Ianuarie, 1589.']

DESCRIPTION OF THE RED-CROSS KNIGHT AND UNA.

By EDMUND SPENSER. [See p. 54.]

'A gentle Knight was pricking [spurring] on the plaine,
Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,

Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine,
The cruel markes of many a bloudy fielde;

Yet armes till that time did he never wield : *
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:
Full jolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.

And on his brest a bloudie crosse he bore,

The deare remembrance of his dying Lord,

For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he bore,
And dead as living ever him ador'd:

Upon his shield the like was also scor'd,

For soveraine hope, which in his helpe he had:
Right faithfull true he was in deede and word,

But of his cheere did seeme too solemne sad;

Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad [dreaded].

'A lovely ladie rode him faire beside,

Upon a lowly asse more white then snow,

Yet she much whiter, but the same did hide

Under a vele, that wimpled was full low,

*Cf. Letter to Sir Walter Raleigh, Extract XXIII.

R

And over all a blacke stole she did throw
As one that inly mournd: so was she sad
And heavie sat upon her palfrey slow:

Seemed [it] in heart some hidden care she had,

And by her in a line a milke white lambe she lad [led].' [Faery Queene, Bk. i., Canto i. 1, 2, 4.]

THE ELIZABETHAN STAGE.

By SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. [See p. 52, and also p. 59.]

'Our Tragedies, and Comedies, (not without cause cried out against,) obseruing rules, neyther of honest ciuilitie, nor of skilfull Poetrie, excepting Gorboduck, [by Sackville,—see p. 61, s. 38] (againe, I say, of those that I haue seene,) which notwithstanding, as it is full of stately speeches, and well-sounding Phrases, clyming to the height of Seneca his stile, and as full of notable moralitie, which it doth most delightfully teach; and so obtayne the very end of Poesie: yet in troth it is very defectious in the circumstaunces; which greeueth mee, because it might not remaine as an exact model of all Tragedies. For it is faulty both in place, and time, the two necessary companions of all corporall actions. For where the stage should alwaies represent but one place, and the vttermost time presupposed in it, should be, both by Aristotle's precept, and common reason, but one day: there is both many dayes, and many places, inartificially imagined. But if it be so in Gorboduck, how much more in al the rest? where you shal have Asia of the one side, and Affrick of the other, and so many vnder-kingdoms, that the Player when he commeth in, must euer begin with telling where he is: or els, the tale wil not be conceiued. Now ye shal have three Ladies, walke to gather flowers, and then we must beleeue the stage to be a Garden. By and by, we heare newes of shipwracke in the same place, and then wee are to blame, if we accept it not for a Rock.

Vpon the backe of that, comes out a hidious Monster, with fire and smoke, and then the miserable beholders, are bounde to take it for a Caue. While in the mean-time, two Armies flye in, represented with foure swords and bucklers, and then what harde heart will not receiue it for a pitched fielde? * &c.'

[An Apologie for Poetrie, 1595 (Arber's Reprint, 1868), 63—4.]

* Cf. Shakespeare, King Henry V., Chorus :

-'Can this cockpit hold

The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques

That did affright the air at Agincourt?

O, pardon,' &c.

Mr. Knight thinks that Sidney's words may have prompted Shakespeare's appeal to his audience in this address to 'piece out our imperfections with your thoughts.' See also as to the wooden O,' p. 59, s. 37.

APPENDIX B.

THECANTERBURY TALES."

IN the account given on p. 36, s. 17, the Canterbury Tales were roughly dated 1390. It has, however, been conjectured that the frame and Prologue of the Pilgrimage were composed in 1388; that some already-written and earlier tales were fitted to them; that others were then written; and that others again, but not enough to complete the required number, were added at intervals between 1388 and 1400. The succession of the tales in the order of composition is not yet finally determined; but Mr. Furnivall points out that Mr. Hales' test-power of characterisation'-is the only true key to the date of production.* The best work in this respect may be fairly assumed to be the latest. Of the aspect of the personages of the famous Prologue, we shall not here make a summary, contenting ourselves with referring readers to that given by Professor Morley (English Authors, ii., Part i., pp. 292–309); and to the excellent edition of the Prologue, Knighte's Tale, and Nonne Preste's Tale, by Dr. Morris, in the Clarendon Press Series, 1869. The arrangement of the Tales adopted in the following brief list is that adopted by Mr. F. J. Furnivall in his Temporary Preface to the Six-Text Edition of the Canterbury Tales, 1868.†

I. KNIGHTE'S TALE is a condensed version of the Teseide of Boccaccio (1313-1375), and recounts the loves of Palamon and Arcite for Emily, sister of Theseus' wife, Hippolita. She is made the prize of battle. Arcite wins, but, dying by an accident, bequeaths the lady to Palamon, in a speech, which for its dramatic eloquence Mr. Cowden Clarke (Riches of Chaucer, Advertisement to

*Recent Work at Chaucer, Macmillan's Magazine, March, 1873.

†The metre of the Canterbury Tales is generally the rhymed heroic couplet. A writer in the Westminster Review gives the following golden rule' for reading Chaucer. 'Pronounce the final e whenever the metre demands it, and the final syllable in all words of French origin, as e.g. in coráge, visage, honour, clamoúr, maniér. Bear in mind, also, that the strangeness of three-fourths of the words results from the antiquated way in which they are spelled, and that when deprived of an e or an n, or otherwise slightly altered, they become familiar. They are old friends disguised in foreign garb; when we hear them speak their strangeness vanishes.'