Chaucer's sketches of natural scenery are generally brief, and form only the background of his pictures. Indeed, there is, strictly speaking, little landscape painting in English poetry till the days of Thomson and Cowper. Short descriptions may be seen in Chaucer's Dream, or the Book of the Dutchess, where the mourning knight is discovered, in the Parliament of Fowles where the garden is described, in the Complaint of the Black Knight, and in the Flower and the Leaf, where we listen to the song of the goldfiuch and the nightingale :—

Wherefore I meruail greatly of my selfe,
That I so long withouten sleepè lay,
And up I rose three hourès after twelfe,
About the springing of the day,
And on I put my geare and mine array,
And to a pleasaunt grovè I gan passe
Long or the bright sonnè up risen was.

In which were okès great, streight as a line,
Under the which the grasse so fresh of hew,
Was newly sprong, and an eight foot or nine,
Euery tree well fro his fellow grew,

With branches brode, ladè with leuès new,
That sprengen out agen the sunnè shene,
Some very red and some a glad light grene.

The Flower and the Leaf. Fourth and fifth stanzas.

Generally the picture is briefer; as when the Reve's dwelling is described:

His wonning was full fayre upon an hethe.
With grenè trees yshadewed was his place.

Prologue to Canterbury Tales.

The lines of Chaucer are not easily read, as the accentuation of final syllables is not regular. The following lines from the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales will suggest the points that require attention :-

Whanne that April with his shourés sotea

The droughte of March hath perced to the rote,
And bathed every veine in swiche licour,
Of which virtue engendred is the floure;
Whan Zephirus eke with his soté brethe
Enspired hath in every holt and hethe
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfé cours yronne,
And smalé foules maken melodie,

• Sweet

b Root.

• Such.

d Ran..

That slepen allé night with open eye,
So priketh hem nature in hirb coràges ;
Than longen folk to gon on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seken strange strondes,
To served halweys couthef in sondry londes;
And specially, from every shires ende

Of Englelond, to Canterbury they wende,

The holy blisful martyr for to seke,

That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seke,
Befelle, that, in that seson on a day,

In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay,
Redy to wenden on my pilgrimage
To Canterbury with devoute corage,
At night was come into that hostelrie
Wel nine and twenty in a compagnie
Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle

In felawship, and pilgrimes were they alle,
That toward Canterbury wolden ride.
The chambres and the stables weren wide,
And wel we weren esed atte beste.

And shortly, whan the sonne was gon to reste,

So hadde I spoken with hem everich on,
That I was of hir felawship anon,

And made forword erly for to rise,

To take oure way ther as I you devise.

But natheles, while I have time and space,

Or that I forther in this tale pace.
Me thinketh it accordant to resòn,
To tellen you alle the condition
Ot eche of hem, so as it semed me,

And whiche they weren, and of what degre;
And eke in what araie that they were inne:
And at a knight than wol I firste beginne.

Of his power of sketching character, we may take for an example his Parson. In the 'Vision of William'-Piers Plowman—1360, the Lollard shepherd had already been sketched, as Dobet (Dobetter);

He is low as a lambè and lovelich of spech,

And helpith allè men aftir that hem nedith.

'William' speaks of him as having 'rendrid' (translated) the Bible,

and it is probable that Wycliffe was the original of both portraits. The same character has been drawn by Dryden; by Goldsmith in his Deserted Village, where he has something of the careless good-nature of the author; by Cowper, in the Task; and by Crabbe, in the first book of the Village.

The Parson.

A good man ther was of religiòun
That was a pouré personne of a toun,

But riche he was of holy thought and werk:
He was also a learned man-a clerk."
That Cristé's gospel trewély woulde preach ;
His parishens devoutly wolde he teche
Benign he was and wonder diligent,
And in adversitee ful patient:

And swiche he was ypreved often sithes.
Ful loth were him to cursen for his tythes;
But rather wolde he yeven out of doute
Unto his pouré parishens aboute

Of his off'ring and eke of his substance:
He could in litel thing have suffisance.
Wide was his parish-houses fer asonder,
But he ne left nought for no rain ne thonder,
In sikenesse and in mischief to visite
The farrest in his parish moche and lite,
Upon his fete and in his hand a staf.
This noble ensamble to his sheep he yaf,

That first he wrought and afterward he taught;
Out of the gospel he the wordés caught,

And this figure he added yet thereto,

e

f

That if gold rusté, what should iren do?
For if a preest be foule on whom we trust,
No wonder is a lewéd man to rust.
And shame it is, if that a preest take kepe
To see a smutted shepherd and clean shepe
Well ought a preest ensample for to yeve
By his cleannessé, how his sheep shulde live.
He setté not his benefice to hire,

And lette his sheep acombred in the mire,

A scholar.
Times, also since.

• Small.

d Gave.

• Ignorant.

? Care.

And ran unto London unto Seint Poules
To seken him a chanterie for soules,
Or with a brotherhede to be withold;
But dwelt at home and kepté wel his fold,
So that the wolf ne made it not miscarie
He was a shepherd and no mercenàrie
And, tho' he holy were and vertuous,
He was to sinful men not dèspitous ;b
Ne of his speché dangerous ne digne,
But in his teching discrete and benigne
To drawen folk to heaven with fairéness,
By good ensample, was his besinesse
But it were any persone obstinate,
What so he were of highe or low estat,
Him wolde he snibben sharply for the nonés.
A better preest I trow that no wher non-is.
He waited after no pompe ne reverence,
Ne makéd him no spicéd1 consciènce,
But Criste's lore and his apostles twelve
He taught, but first he folowed it himselve.

Prologue, Canterbury Tales

Of the Choice of Friends. The Advice of Sapience to her

Husband.

Now, sirs, saith dame Prudence, sith ye vouche saufe to be gouerned by my counceyll, I will enforme yow how ye shal gouerne yow in chesing of your counceyll. First to forealle workes ye shall beseche the hyghe God, that he be your counceyll; and shape yow to suche entente that he yeue you counceyll and comforte as Thobye taught his sone.1 'At alle tymes thou shall plese and praye him to dresse thy weyes; and loke that alle thy counceylls be in hym for euermore.' Saynt James eke saith: 'Yf ony of yow haue nede of sapience, axe it of God.' And after that than shall ye take counceyll in yourself, and examyne well your thoughtys of suche thynges as

ye thynke that ben beste for your profyt. And than shall ye dryue away from your hertes the thynges that ben contraryous to good counceyl: this is to saye-ire, couetyse, and hastynes.

And

For

First, he that axeth counceyll of hymself, certes, he muste be withouten yre, for many causes. The fyrst is this: he that hath grete ire and wrath in hymself, he weneth alway he may do thing that he may not doo. And secondly, he that is irous and wrathfull may not dem well; and he that may not dem well, may not well counceyll. Another is this that no that is irous and wrathfull, as saith Seneke, may not speke but ciameful thinges, and with his vicyous wordes he sterryth other folke to anger and to ire. eke, syr, ye must dryue couetyse out of your herte. thapostle saith that couetyse is rot of all harmes. And truste well, that a couetous man well can not deme ne thinke but only to fuffylle the ende of his couetyse; and certes that may never been accomplysshyd; for euer the more haboundance a man hath of rychesse the more he desyreth. And ye muste also dryue out of your herte hastyness; for certes ye may not dem for the beste hastely a soden thought that falleth in your herte, but ye must auise yow on hit ful ofte. For, as ye herd to fore, the comyn prouerbe, whiche is this: He that sone demeth, sone repenteth. Syre ye be not alway in like disposition, for certes sometyme suche thing as seemeth that is good for to doe, another tyme hit semeth to yow the contrarye. And when ye haue take counceill in your self, and haue demed by good deliberacion suche thing as semeth you best, than I conceille yow to kepe hit secrete. And bewreyes not your counceill to ony persone, but yf hit so be that ye wene sickerly, that thorugh your bewreyng, your condition shall be to yow the more prouffytable. For Jesus Sirak saith, Neyther to thy foo ne to thy frende discouer not thy secrete counceyll ne thy folye, for they will yeue the (thee) audience, lokyng, and supportyng in your presence, and scorne you in your absence.' Another clerk saith, that scarsely shal thou fynde any person ne that may kepe counceill secretly. The

• Be.

b Covetousness. c Assuredly

d Thinketh

• Judge.

f 1 Tim. vi. 10.
Disclose.

h Know, assuredly.

1 Jesus the son of Sirac; Eccl. xix. 8

› Clergyman or scholar