The Press.
London, England, 1855-04-21 00:00:00

katii 21,1855.

of Chaucer could follow Mr. Bell at once, but
the crowd would soon be confused amongst
" hypercatalities," and " anapests," and
" ciesuras," and " virgules," and the distinc-
tions between the " equipollent " and " equi-
syllabic." In reading Chaucer the main dis-
tinction for popular readers to learn is how to
sound the words. People ignorant of Chan-
(Pailful pronunciation take up his poems ; they
can perceive his sense, but the verses sound
batbavously to their ears, on account of the
apparent inequality of the harmony. Yet this
defect vanishes even on a slight acquaintance
with the mode of pronouncing Chaucer. Thus
let us take an instance cited by Mr. Bell in
his introduction :-
0 litel child, alias ! what is thi gilt,
That never wroughtest synne as yet, parde ?
Why wil thyn harde fader han the spilt
"(1 mercy, deere constable," Eeyde ache,
"And let my litel child here dwelle with the;
And if thou darst not seven him for blame,
So kys him oonos in his fadres name."
Therw•ith ache loketh bak-ward to the lond,
And seyde, " Farwel housbond rewtheles !"
And up ache riot, and walketh down the stronde
Toward the aehip, hir folweth al the prees;
And ever ache preyeth hir child to hold his pees,
And took hir lave, and with an holy entent
Sche blesseth hire and to the schip she went.

An ordinary reader will at once discern the
meaning and touching beauty of these lines,
but their apparent roughness would displease
the unfamiliar ear. Thus, pronouncing the
fourth line according to our modern modes, it
would seem to be short in quantity ; and so
in the pathetic couplet,
And if thou darst not (avian him for blame,
bo kys him oones in his fadres name,
a modern reader would sound the word
" oones " as if it were "eons," instead of
making it a dissyllable. But we shall now
copy the extract as " modernised" and ac-
centuated by Mr. Bell
0 little child, ills I whit is thy guilt,
That never wroughtest sin is yet, Ord!?
Why will thy harde father hive thee spilt?
0 mere)', dears COnstible,' skid she,
And let my little child here dwell with thee ;
And if th6u dir'st not seven him for blame,
S 6 kiss him bones in his father's name.'

Therewith she looketh backward to the llind,
And Aide, Farewell husband ratheless
♦nd Up she rose, and walketh dawn the strand
Toward the ship; her followeth all the press ;
And ever she prayth her child to held his peace,
And tOok her leave, and with an holy intent

She blesaeth her Ind tO the ship she went.
By attending to the prosody thus given, any
reader will at once perceive the scansion and
sounding of Chaucer. Mr. Bell proposed at
first to accentuate the entire text in a style as
above, but he abandoned the notion on second
thoughts. He says :
For the purpose of testing the experiment practically,
the whole of " The Canterbury Tales" were accented in
the first instance for this edition ; and it was not till the
labour had been completed that the design of printing
them in that manner was relinquished. The necessity
these accents imposed, in a vast number of instances, of
deciding doubtful questions affecting the resolution of
quantities, and the differences of opinion they would inevi-
tably generate on points fur which no arbitrary laws can
poasibly be laid down, determilied their final rejection. It
was thought better to supptir the reader with a few plain
rules for pronunciation, which should embrace the princi-
pal structural peculiarities, leaving him to apply them for
himself.
In the important choice of the text Mr. Bell
has been guided principally by the opinion of
Mr. Wright in following the Harleian manu-
script, No. 7,334, in the British Museum. We
have compared his text in the present edition
with that of Tyrwhitt'e and we have no hesi-
tation in giving the preference to that pre-
sented by Mr. Bell. Though Tyrwhitt collated
several MSS., he did not pay sufficient atten-
tion to their dates, and he attributed too much
authority to the early editions by Caxton ; but
we are glad to perceive that Mr. Bell has
frankly acknowledged the services performed
by Tyrwhitt.
Our want of space will at present prevent
us from citing from the notes of Mr. Bell. We
think he has erred on the side of being too
copious. Thus, in the opening lines :

Whan that Aprillll with his schowres swolte
The drought of Marche bath perced to the roote,
And tiithud eyety.veyne in swish lieoets •
Of which rodeo engehdred it the Sour.

THE PRESS.

Upon which we have a note :

Tertne " here signifies power. The meaning is, when
April has bathed every vein of the earth in that moisture
which, by its genial power, produces the blossom.
This is followedaby a parallel passage from Cow-
per. And so in several cases, meanings perfectly
obvious are paraphrased in the notes. Some
of them, however, are rich in historical illus-
tration, and in all a vast variety of knowledge
is displayed.
We shall be anxious to learn how far this
edition, whioh has so many claims to public
appreciation, will tend to procure readers for
" the father of English poetry." Up to the
present time it must be admitted that Chaucer
has to trust for his fame chiefly to the literary
hierophants who have expounded him. We
have met deep students of English history,
who cared little for poetry in general, familiar
with Chaucer flit account of his archeological
merits. Yet he would well repay the attention
of any intellectual person who takes the
trouble to use the key necessary for unlocking
his treasures. Mr. Bell has greatly facilitated
the study of this ancient bard, and has given
much philological aid to the merely general
reader. The edition is extremely cheap, and
possesses a great advantage over that in " The
Universal Library," in being perfectly legible
to weak eyes.
When the concluding volume of the edition
shall be published, we may, perhaps, give
some extracts illustrative of Mr. Bell's textual
care; in the meantime, we can recommend his
present performance for its conscientious and
highly-elaborate execution."

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