The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Volume 5Clarendon Press, 1894 |
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Common terms and phrases
alluded allusion Amant Astrolabe Ayenb Ayenbite of Inwyt Boethius Book called Canterbury Canterbury Tales Chaucer common Conf Cotgrave Dict dissyllabic Ecclus edition English enim examples explained expression friars Furnivall gives Glossary Gower Harl hath Hence Hist House of Fame Jack Upland Jean de Meun Jerome John of Salisbury king knight Latin Legend Lydgate margin means mentioned Morris occurs original Ovid Parv passage Percy Folio phrase Piers Plowman poem printed probably Prol Prologue Prov proverb Publilius Syrus quae quod quotation quoted reading reference remarks rime Roman Rose saint says Seneca sense shews signifies Skeat spelling spelt stanza Statius story supposed syllables Tale Teseide thou translation treatise Troil Tyrwhitt verb Vincent of Beauvais Vulgate Warton wine word Wright Wyclif's þat
Popular passages
Page 253 - A jest's prosperity lies in the ear • Of him that hears it, never in the tongue Of him that makes it : then, if sickly ears, Deaf 'd with the clamours of their own dear groans.
Page 498 - A question not to be asked. Shall the son of England prove a thief and take purses? A question to be asked. There is a thing, Harry, which thou hast often heard of, and it is known to many in our land by the name of pitch. This pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth defile...
Page 247 - Now had they waken'd; and the hour drew near When they were wont to bring us food; the mind Of each misgave him through his dream, and I Heard at its outlet underneath lock'd up The horrible tower : whence, uttering not a word, I look'd upon the visage of my sons.
Page 182 - Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
Page xxviii - Gower, his contemporaries : there is the rude sweetness of a Scotch tune in it, which is natural and pleasing, though not perfect.
Page 327 - Want is a bitter and a hateful good, Because its virtues are not understood: Yet many things, impossible to thought, Have been by need to full perfection brought The daring of the soul proceeds from thence, Sharpness of wit, and active diligence; Prudence at once, and fortitude, it gives, And, if in patience taken, mends our lives...
Page 229 - Give not thy son and wife, thy brother and friend, power over thee while thou livest, and give not thy goods to another: lest it repent thee, and thou entreat for the same again. As long as thou livest and hast breath in thee, give not thyself over to any. For better it is that thy children should seek to thee, than that thou shouldest stand to their courtesy.
Page 316 - The man walking with that noble animal, showed him, in the ostentation of human superiority, a sign of a man killing a lion. Upon which, the lion said very justly, " We lions are none of us painters, else we could show a hundred men killed by lions, for one lion killed by a man.
Page 247 - These weeds of miserable flesh we wear; And do thou strip them off from us again.' Then, not to make them sadder, I kept down My spirit in stillness. That day and the next We all were silent. Ah, obdurate earth!
Page 241 - And what is friendship but a name, A charm that lulls to sleep ; A shade that follows wealth or fame, And leaves the wretch to weep...