tion has been lost, it is impossible to determine. Forty years later a continuation was written by Jean de Meung, who added 18,000 lines, without, however, catching either the spirit or the idea of his predecessor. The part written by Lorris is noted for its picturesqueness, its brilliancy of description, and its faithful character-painting-nothing more. The part added by Meung is satirical and aggressive, attacking earnestly and with boldness the social manners of the time and sparing neither church nor State. This allegory is interesting to us from the fact that to it Chaucer owed much of his earlier inspiration; and its nomenclature probably suggested to Spenser the characters of his Faerie Queene. "This poem," says Warton, "is esteemed by the French the most valuable piece of their old poetry. It is far beyond the rude efforts of all their preceding romances; and they have nothing equal to it before the reign of Francis I., who died in the year 1547.” Chaucer's Romaunt of the Rose is a translation of the famous French allegory. It consists of nearly 8000 lines, including the whole of the part written by Lorris and about one-fifth of Meung's addition. In this poem we are transported to the Garden of Love, in which Pleasure is the presiding genius. The only entrance to the garden is through a small gate, which is opened by Leisure only to such as are deserving of admittance; hence, Poverty, Idleness, Villainy, Greed, Hate, Felony, Avarice, Sorrow, Old Age, Pope Holy, and Hypocrisy are excluded, and only such characters as Beauty, Pleasure, Jollity, Wealth, Liberality, Courtesy, Youth, and Love are allowed entrance. The Rose, which gives name to the poem, is the emblem of loveliness. The lover meets with many adventures, being alternately aided and retarded in his undertakings by the personages who surround him. He learns at the fountain of Narcissus to avoid the fate of those who regard Love lightly; then Love himself pierces him with his arrows, and tells him how he may gain the object of his desire, and Good Reception cheers him forwards and ena bles him, by eluding Authority, to arrange an interview. But at this point Jealousy steps in between him and the Rose, Good Reception is thrown into prison, and the lover is left sighing at the foot of the tower. The opening of the Romaunt is somewhat similar to the first lines of the Canterbury Tales: In tyme of love and jolité Hir blisfull swete song piteous.* Chaucer's first original allegory-perhaps, indeed, his first work-was The Court of Love, "an imitation of the Romaunt of the Rose, showing that all are subject to love, what impediments soever to the contrary; containing also those twentie statutes which are to be observed in the Court of Love." The author is represented as "Philogenet, of Cambridge, clerke," who at the age of eighteen is possessed with a desire to seek the Court of Love. He describes his journey thither: So than I went by strange and fer countrees, And methought some wight was there that knew *Romaunt of the Rose, 52-56, and 79 seq. Where that court was holden ferre or nie, Soon he came in sight of the castle wherein the court was held: Yet saw I never none so large and hie; With many a thousand daisies rede as rose, There Venus was worshiped, but Admetus and Alcestis were King and Queen of Love, To whom obeied the ladies good ninetene, With many a thousand other bright of face. With its The daisy, he says, was sacred to the queen. heart of gold and its white crown of innocence and its modest grace, it is the type of the true and pure wife. Why Admetus and Alcestis are represented as king and queen, the student who is acquainted with Greek mythology will have no difficulty in understanding. Admetus, one of the Argonauts, loved Alcestis, the fair daughter of Pelias, and besought her father for her hand in marriage. To this old Pelias agreed on condition that he should come to claim his bride in a chariot drawn by lions and wild boars. The condition was gladly accepted and fulfilled by Admetus; but he had forgotten to sacrifice to Diana, and hence he found in the bridal-chamber not the lovely Alcestis, but a bundle of writhing snakes. Apollo appeased the angry goddess and secured for Admetus exemption from death on condition that some one who was dear to him should die for him. Alcestis willingly consented to suffer for him; but Hercules afterwards restored her to life and to Admetus. This myth is but one of the spontaneous allegories of the Greeks, and typifies true marriage and † Ibid., 98-102. * Court of Love, 56-63. conjugal devotion. But to return to the Court of Love. Philogenet, upon his arrival at the castle, is conducted to the temple where he sees Venus and Cupid, and where he swears allegiance to the queen and obedience to the twenty statutes of love. Then, following the poetical custom of the Troubadours, he is presented to Lady Rosiall, with whom he has become enamored in a dream. The poem closes with the celebration of the Festival of Love on Mayday, wherein the birds are represented as chanting in honor of the god of love a parody of the Catholic matin service for Trinity Sunday. To matens went the lusty nightingale. And "Domine labia," gan he cry and gale, And let my mouth thy praising now bewry." The eagle sang, "Venite, bodies all, And let us joy to love that is our health." Ye be the god that done us brenne thus hote." "Coeli enarrant," said the popingay, And then came in the goldfinch freshe and gay, "Te deum amoris," sang the throstel-cocke; "The lorde of love we praysen," (quod he), than "Dominus regnavit," said the pecocke there. And all the service which hath ben so long." The Cuckow and the Nightingale is a short allegory in which "Chaucer dreameth that hee heareth the cuckow and the nightingale contend for excellencie in singing." The idea may have been suggested by the older poem of The Owl and the Nightingale, a piece of transition poetry belonging to the twelfth century. The cuckoo and the nightingale dispute about the blessings of love, the former declaring it to be full of misery, the latter asserting that it is full of pleasure. The nightingale sings so loudly that the poet can bear to hear the cuckoo no more. Me thought then that I stert out anon, And to the broke I ran and gate a ston, And he for drede flie awey ful fast, The nightingale thanks him, and says: Every day this May or thou dine, *Court of Love, 1353 seq. The Cuckow and the Nightingale, 216–220. |