ment, 88-90; Phillips's comment, 91; edition of 1687, 92; ref-

erences to Chaucer by Cokayne, Evelyn, and Denham, 93-95;

Addison on Chaucer, 95-97.

II.

Anthony Wood on Chaucer, 98; Dryden on, 99-109; supposed

rudeness of Chaucer's versification, 110-112; imitations of

Chaucer, 112-114; seventeenth-century imitations, 115-119;

eighteenth-century imitations, 119-132; practice of moderni-

zation, 132-134; assumed obsoleteness of Chaucer's language,

134-140; change in language, 140-151; ignorance of Early

English in the eighteenth century, 151-154; modernization of

Chaucer, 154-156; eighteenth-century preference for modern-

izations, 156-159; Dryden's modernizations, 159-179; Pope's,

179-185; Betterton's, 185-188; Ogle's, 189-191; two classes

of modernizations, 191, 192; modernizations of Boyse and

Brooke, 192-197; of Lipscomb, 197-200; of Dart, Calcott, and

Harte, 200, 201; eighteenth-century diction unsuited for mod-

ernizing Chaucer, 201, 202; nineteenth-century and eigh-

teenth-century modernizations compared, 202, 203; moderni-

zations of Lord Thurlow, 203-208; of Wordsworth, 208-210;

of Leigh Hunt, 210-212; new scheme of modernization, 212–

214; the last of the modernizations, 214-229.

III.

The influence of Dryden, 230-233; Gay's comedy, 234; Pope on

Chaucer, 234-237; eighteenth-century opinion, 237-239; ten-

dency of modernizations, 240; antiquarian interest in Chaucer,

241; Mrs. Cooper's publication, 242, 243; increasing interest in

Chaucer, 243, 244; Warton on Chaucer, 244-253; reason for

the failure of the eighteenth century to appreciate Chaucer,

253, 254; influence of Tyrwhitt, 254, 255; views overthrown by

Tyrwhitt, 255-258; Chaucer's popularity in the later Georgian

period, 258-263; admiration felt by Wordsworth, Southey, and

Coleridge, 258, 259; Byron on Chaucer, 260, 261; Miss Mitford

on Chaucer, 262, 263; present rapidly increasing popularity of

Chaucer, 263, 264; the question of the modernization of Chau-

cer in orthography and pronunciation, 264-279.

CHAPTER VIII.

CHAUCER AS A LITERARY ARTIST

The antagonism between authors and reviewers as old as litera-
ture, 283; no record of hostile criticism of Chaucer by his

contemporaries, 284; evidence from his writings of its exist-

ence, 284-288; his dissatisfaction with his own work, 288, 289;

ignorant criticism about Chaucer inherited by the present age,

289, 290; the conventional comparison of Chaucer with Shak-

speare, 290-293; continued existence of eighteenth-century

views of Chaucer's art, 293; the inspired-barbarian view, 294.

295; Chaucer a conscious worker, 295, 296; in versification, a

reformer and an inventor, 296–299; the three kinds of verse he

found in common use, 299-301; alliterative verse, 299; ryming

verse in stanzas, 299, 300; octosyllabic verse, 301; the inven-

tion and introduction of the heroic measure his greatest ser-

vice, 301-303; his creation of the ryme royal, 304–306; the

three measures he principally used, 306, 307; his naturaliza-

tion of foreign measures and experiments in versification, 307-

316; his progressive development in the handling of the

matter of his poems, 316-322; absence of verbal quibbles, 319:

characteristics of early poets, 322, 323; Chaucer's attitude tow-

ards literature a critical one, 323-344; his method not char-

acterized by blind creative impulse, 324; prominence of his

own personality, 325; freedom from the bombastic and the

commonplace, 326, 327; freedom from prolixity, 327-330; his

criticism of the 'Gestes.' 330-332; of the 'Tragedies,' 332-335;

the Legend of Good Women' as showing changing taste, 335-

339; the critical tendency as revealed in the tales of the

Franklin, the Wife of Bath, and the Clerk of Oxford, 339-344;

the question of morality, 344-364; the controversy as to the

province of art, 344, 345; the apology of conformity with the

taste of his times, 345-347; Chaucer's view of the relation of

art to morality, 347-353; his avoidance of the revolting, 353-

356; his treatment of the immoral, 356-358; the humorous

tales in literary history, 358-363; their excellence, 363, 364;

Chaucer's art injuriously affected by his learning, 364-375; in-

trusion of irrelevant learning, 365-371; improper digressions,

371, 372; passages improperly introduced; 372-375; the ques-

tion of art in Chaucer's indifference to the truth of fact, 375-

391; his anachronisms, 375-380; conformity to fact not cared

for, 380-383; Shakspeare, Milton, Gray, similarly indifferent,

383-387; the value of conformity to fact, 387-391; the ques-

tion of Chaucer's originality, 391-430; his obligations to other

writers, 392-398; mistaken conceptions of originality, 398-406;

view of Sandras as to Chaucer's originality, 407-412; of Wright,

413, 414; the invention of tales, 414-416; Chaucer's treatment

of his material, 416–419; its originality, 419, 420; his acknowl-

edgment of his obligations, 420-429; his obligations to others

not a question of first importance, 429, 430; incompleteness of

his works, 430-439; of the Canterbury Tales,' 431-436; of the

'House of Fame,' 436-438; general conclusions, 439–446;

changes of method, 439, 440; closeness of his language to that

of common life, 440-443; position in English literature, 444:

characteristics of his style, 4II-116.

APPENDIX.

Discovery of a new poem of Chaucer's, 449, 450, discovery of the

originals of the 'Complaint of Venus,' 450, 451; correction of

errors in the text, 451, 452; maxim derived from Seneca, 452;

identification of Retters with the modern Réthel, 452, 453.

INDEX....

455

VII.

CHAUCER IN LITERARY HISTORY