rid of two of the Preeftes, and the detail of the cha racters will agree with the grofs number in ver. 24, Chaucer himself being included among the nine-andtwenty. As novelifts generally delight in even numbers it is not improbable that the Hoft was intended to be the thirtieth: though not under the fame obligation with the other pilgrims, he might nevertheless tell his Tale among them as a volunteer.

$7. This leads me, in the third place, to examine what the agreement was which the pilgrims entered into at the fuggeftion of the Hoft with respect to the number of Tales that each perfon was to tell. The propofal of the Hoft ftands thus, with very little variation, in all the mff.;

This is the point-[fays he, ver. 792-5,3

That eche of you, to fhorten with youre way
In this viage thall tellen Tales tway,

To Canterbury ward I mene it fo,

And homeward he thal tellen other two.

From this paffage we fhould certainly conclude that each of them was to tell two Tales in the journey to Canterbury, and two more in the journey homeward; but all the other paffages in which mention is made of this agreement would rather lead us to believe that they were to tell only one Tale in each journey, and the Prologue to The Parfon's Tale ftrongly confirms this latter fuppofition. The Hoft fays there, [ver. 17317,1

Now lacketh us no Tales mo than on

and calling upon the Parfon to tell this one Fale which was wanting, he fays to him, [ver. 17325,]

I think I can promife, in the courfe of the following Work, to point out feveral other undoubted interpolations, which are to the full as abfurd as the fubject of our prefent discussion,

ne breke thou not our play,

For every man, fave thou, hath told his Tale. The Parfon therefore had not told any Tale before, and only one Tale was expected from him (and confequently from each of the others) upon that journey. It is true that a very flight alteration of the paffage firft cited would reconcile that too to this hypothefis; if it were written

That eche of you, to fhorten with youre way
In this viage that tellen Tales tway,

To Canterbury ward I mene ito,

And homeward he fhal tell another to

the original propofition of the Hoft would perfectly agree with what appears to have been the fubfequent practice. However, I cannot venture to propofe fuch an alteration of the text in oppofition to fo many m.ff. fome of them of the beft note; and therefore the reader, if he is so pleased, may confider this as one of thofe inconfiftencies hinted at above which prove too plainly that the Author had not finished his Work.

§8. The remainder of the Prologue is employed in defcribing the characters of the pilgrims and their firft fetting out upon their journey. The little that it may be neceffary to fay in illuftration of fome of the characters I thall referve for the Notes. The circumflances of their fetting out are related fuccinctly and naturally; and the contrivance of appointing the Knight by lot to tell the hirft Tale is a happy one, as it affords the Author the opportunity of giving his Work a fplendid opening, and at the fame time does not infringe that apparent equality upon which the freedom of difcourfe, and consequently the cafe and good humour of every fociety, fo entirely depends. The general fatisfaction which this appointment is

faid to give to the company puts us in mind of a fimi→ lar gratification to the fecret wishes of the Grecian army when the lot of fighting with Hector fails to Ajax, though there is not the least probability that Chaucer had ever read the Iliad even in a translation.

$9. The Knighte's Tale, or at least a poem upon the fame fubject, was originally compofed by Chaucer as a feparate work: as fuch it is mentioned by him, among fome of his other works, in The Legende of Gode Wornen, [ver. 420, 1,] under the title of—Al the Love of Palamon and Arcite of Thebes, though the Storie is knowen lite and the last words feem to imply that it had not made itfelf very popular. It is not impos fible that at first it was a mere tranflation of The Thefeida of Boccace, and that its prefent form was given to it when Chaucer determined to affign it the first place among his Canterbury Tales. AsThe Thefeida, upon which this Tale is entirely founded, is very rarely to be met with (9,) it may not be unpleafing to the

(9) The letter which Boccace fent to the Fiammetta with this poem is dated di Napoli a 15 d'Aprile 1341. [Lettere di xiii. Uomini Illuft. Ven. 1564.] I believe that date is a true one, and it is remarkable as being the very year and month in which Petrarch received the laurel at Rome. The long friendship which fubfifted between thefe two extraordinary men muft probably have commenced in the preceding winter, when Petrarch came to Naples in order to be examined by King Robert, previously to his going to Rome. Boccace feems to have been prefent at fome of the converfations between him and the king, [Geneal. Deor. 1. xiv. c. xxii.]--The first edition of the Thefeida, according to Quadrio, [t. vi. p.462,] was without date, and under the miftaken title of Amazonide, which might have been proper enough for the firft book; it was foon after however reprinted, with its true title, at Ferrara in 1475, fol. Dr. Afkew was fo obliging as to lend me the only copy of this edit.

reader to fee here a short fummary of it, which will thew with what kill Chaucer has proceeded in reducing a poem of about ten thousand lines to a little more than two thoufand, without omitting any material circumstance.

The Thefeida is diftributed into twelve books or cantos.

which I have ever heard of in England. The Rev. Mr. Crofts has a later edit. in 4to, printed at Venice in 1528, but in that the poem has been riveduto e emendato, that is, in plain Englith, modernized. I cannot help fufpecting that Salvini, who has inveighed with great bitterness against the corruptions of the printed Theseida, [Manni. Ift. dei Decam. p. 52,] had only examined this laft edition, for I obferve that a ftanza which he has quoted (from some mf. as I suppose) is not near fo correct as it is in the edit. of 1475. As this ftanza contains Boccace's own account of the intention of his poem I thall transcribe it here from that edition. It is the beginning of his conclufion;

Poi che le Mufe nude cominciaro

Nel confpeto de gli omeni ad andare,
Gia fur de quelli che [gial le exercitaro
Con bello filo in bonefto parlare,
E altri in amerofo la operaro,

Ma tu, o libro, primo al lor cantare
Di Marte fai gli affanni foftenuti,

Nel vulgar Latino mai piu non veduti.

This plainly alludes to a paffage in Dante, de Vulgari Eloquentia, l. ii. c. 2, where, after having pointed out the three great Tubjects of poetry, viz. arma, amorem, et rectitudinem, (war, love, and morality,) and enumerated the illuftrious writers upon each, he adds, arma vero nullum Italum adhuc invenio poetae. Boccace therefore apparently prides himfelf upon having supplied the defect remarked by Dante, and upon being the first who taught the Italian Mufes to fing of arms.--Befides other variations for the worfe the fifth line in Salvini's Copy is written thus;

Ed altri in dolci madi l'operaro

by which means the allufion to Dante is rendered incomplete.

B. I. Contains the war of Thefeus with the Amaz zons, their fubmiffion to him, and his marriage with Hippolyta.

B. II. Thefeus having spent two years in Scythia is reproached by Pirithous in a vifion, and immediately returns to Athens with Hippolyta and her fifter Emilia. He enters the city in triumph, finds the Grecian ladies in the temple of Clemenzia, marches to Thebes, kills Creon, &c. and brings home Palemone and Arcita, who are

Damnati-ad eterna prefone.

B. III. Emilia walking in a garden and finging is heard and feen firft by Arcita (10,) who calls Palemone. They are both equally enamoured of her, but without any jealoufy or rivalfhip. Emilia is fuppofed to fee them at the window, and to be not difplcafed with their admiration.-Arcita is releafed at the re queft of Pirithous, takes his leave of Palemone with embraces, &c.

B. IV. Arcita, having changed his name to Pentheo, goes into the fervice of Menelaus at Mycenæ, and afterwards of Peleus at Ægina; from thence he

(10) In defcribing the commencement of this amour, which is to be the fubject of the remainder of the poem, Chaucer has entirely departed from his author in three principal circumitances, and I think in each with very good reason. 1. By fuppoling Emilia to be feen first by Palamon he gives him an advantage over his rival which makes the catastrophe more confonant to poetical juftice. 2. The picture which Boccace has exhibited of two young princes violently enamoured of the fame object without jealousy or rivalship, if not absolutely unnatural, is certainly very infipid and unpoetical. 3. As no confequence is to follow from their being feen by Emilia at this time it is better, I think, to fuppofe, as Chaucer has done, that they are not feen by her.