122
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. i. FEB. is, im.
of Good Women,' 1. 503. It is interesting to
note that it was probably one of his Ovidian
reminiscences ; for the original, or something
very like it, is to be found in ' Trist.,' III. 5,
31-2 :
Quo quis enim major, magis est placabilis irse ;
Et faciles motus mens generosa capit. 2. Eek Plato seith, who-so that can him rede,
The wordes mote be cosin to the dede.
'Prol.,' 11. 741-2.
It has been pointed out by Morris that this saying of Plato is taken from Boethius, ' De Consolatione,' lib. iii. pr. 12, where Chaucer translates, " Thou hast lerned by the sentence of Plato, that nedes the wordes moten ben cosynes to tho thinges of which thei speken." I do not know whether the " sentence " has yet been traced back to its original source in Plato. The reference is to ' Cratylus,' 435 c, where Socrates thus concludes a curious and fanciful discussion on the origin of lan- guage f/xoi fj.fv ovv xal avTM apf(TKi JJLCV Kara, TO SWOLTOV o/^oia eiVai TO. ovo/iara TOIS 7rpay/xao-iv but proceeds to add that there are difficulties in the way of a perfect affinity between words and things, and that the " vulgar method of convention " must also be called in. Needless to say that the appli- cation given to this theory by Chaucer, to justify his " calling a spade a spade," is quite foreign to Plato's argument.
3. And Frensh she spak ful faire and fetisly, After the scole of Stratford atte Bowe, For Frensh of Paris was to hir unknowe.
'Prol., '11. 124-6.
As is well known, Prof. Skeat has contended that this passage implies no unfavourable comparison between the French of Stratford and that of Paris, and that Chaucer "merely states a fact, viz., that the Prioress spoke the usual Anglo-French of the English Court, of the English law courts, and of the English eccle- siastics of the higher rank There is no proof
that he thought more highly of the Parisian than of the Anglo-French," &c. (note in Morris's edition).
The same contention is maintained at greater length and with all Prof. Skeat's learning in his 'Principles of English Etymology.' Is it too late to enter the lists in defence of Chaucer's " jape " against his most accom-
Elished editor, arid to attempt to vindicate >r the poet a bit of sly humour that would be entirely in harmony with the tone of delicate irony running through the whole passage (11. 118-62)?
Prof. Skeat fully establishes the fact that Anglo-French was "important" (to use his own word). But the question is whether it was, from the literary and social point of view, regarded by contemporaries of the better class as on a par with continental French.
Norman-French underwent in England an
independent and isolated development, which
could hardly fail to be one of steady dete-
rioration. It became partially popularized ;
as is known from an often-quoted passage
from Higd en's 'Polychronicon' as translated
by Trevisa, French was used in the schools
in Chaucer's youth : Higden complains of the
"impairing of the birth-tongue" owing to
school children having to "construe their
lessons and things in French," and not only
" gentlemen's sons be taught to speak French
from the time that they be rocked in their
cradle," but "uplandish men will liken them-
selves to gentlemen for to be spoken of." We
are reminded of Langland's " dykers and
delvers that do their deeds ill and drive forth
the long day with ' Dieu vous save, Dame
Emme!'" Trevisa adds that in the year
1385, when he was writing, the change from
French to English in the schools, which had
begun about the middle of the century, was
everywhere completed. As was inevitable in
a population thus perforce, but imperfectly,
bilingual, hybrid forms found their way into
the less familiar dialect. There is also
external evidence of the low esteem in which
Anglo - French came to be held. Under
Henry II. an English knight sent over to
Normandy for some one to teach his son
French showing that A.-F. had lost its
purity. Walter Map, in his 'De Nugis
Curialium,' also says that the French in
England was regarded as old-fashioned and
dialectic. These references, which are taken
from Emerson's ' History of the English
Language,' might no doubt be added to from
the literature and records of the period. It
is true that there existed a considerable
A.-F. literature, but of a somewhat crude
character, as is observable in Chaucer's
adaptation of the tale of Constance from
Nicolas Trivet, in spite of its quaint mediaeval
charm. Meanwhile in France itself, though
there were still different dialects, the "French
of Paris," or "Central French," as Skeafc
terms it, had acquired an overmastering
literary predominance. Both with the other
dialects, by the acquisition of the Angevin
provinces in the twelfth century, and with
Central French, by constant intercourse,
and owing to the French wars from 1337
onwards, the English Court and many of
its subjects had become acquainted. This
new French influence culminated at the
Court of Edward III., who as the son of
Isabella of France may well have spoken
Parisian French himself, though his officials
would still use the Anglo-French jargon in
public documents. His wife, Philippa of
