close observation of human nature. The thirteenth century lives before us.
How greatly Chaucer was indebted to his French predecessor can only be appreciated by those who will be at the pleasurable pains of studying the work of both poets; but as we read the earlier of the two, the conclusion forces itself upon us that Chaucer’s mind was, so to speak, permeated with the “Romance of the Rose.” It must not, however, be forgotten that both Chaucer and Jean de Meun were diligent students of Boethius “De Consolatione Philosophiae” and Alanus de Insulis “De Planctu Naturae.” Here and there Chaucer has appropriated passages from the “Romance”; notably in the description of the refined and dainty manners of the lady prioress, which is found under another guise in Chapter LXXIII. of the “Romance.” Nor is it easy to read Jean de Meun’s dramatic picture of the jealous husband without feeling that it suggested to Chaucer the prologue to the wife of Bath’s tale by way of a counterblast.
In considering the remarkable place that the “Romance of the Rose” holds in European literature, it is well to bear in mind that the first part was written more than a hundred years, and the second part seventy years, before Chaucer was born. When we turn to English literature contemporary with the work of Guillaume de
