In
order that purchasers of the first impression may not be placed
at any disadvantage in this respect, a printed slip, setting forth
corrections of importance that have been made in the first
volume, is inserted in all copies of the second volume.
order that purchasers of the first impression may not be placed
at any disadvantage in this respect, a printed slip, setting forth
corrections of importance that have been made in the first
volume, is inserted in all copies of the second volume.
Cambridge History of English Literature - 1908 - v02
This file was downloaded from HathiTrust Digital Library.
Find more books at https://www. hathitrust. org.
Title: The Cambridge history of English literature, ed. by A. W. Ward
and A. R. Waller.
Publisher: Cambridge, The University Press, 1908-1927.
Copyright:
Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized
http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
We have determined this work to be in the public domain in the United
States of America. It may not be in the public domain in other countries.
Copies are provided as a preservation service. Particularly outside of the
United States, persons receiving copies should make appropriate efforts to
determine the copyright status of the work in their country and use the
work accordingly. It is possible that current copyright holders, heirs or
the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as
illustrations or photographs, assert copyrights over these portions.
Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights
may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address. The
digital images and OCR of this work were produced by Google, Inc.
(indicated by a watermark on each page in the PageTurner). Google requests
that the images and OCR not be re-hosted, redistributed or used
commercially. The images are provided for educational, scholarly,
non-commercial purposes.
Find this book online: https://hdl. handle. net/2027/nyp. 33433112018688
This file has been created from the computer-extracted text of scanned page
images. Computer-extracted text may have errors, such as misspellings,
unusual characters, odd spacing and line breaks.
Original from: New York Public Library
Digitized by: Google
Generated at University of Chicago on 2022-12-31 14:30 GMT
## p. (#1) ##################################################
NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES
3 3433 11201 8688
## p. (#2) ##################################################
## p. (#3) ##################################################
NC
: ما نیست
## p. (#4) ##################################################
## p. (#5) ##################################################
1
## p. (#6) ##################################################
## p. i (#7) ################################################
THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY
OF
ENGLISH LITERATURE
VOLUME II
THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES
## p. ii (#8) ###############################################
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE
C. F. CLAY, MANAGER.
London: FETTER LANE, E. C.
Glasgow : 50, WELLINGTON STREET.
Paris : THE GALIGNANI LIBRARY.
Berlin: ASHER AND CO.
Bombay and Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO. , LTD.
Copyrighted in the United States of America by
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS,
27 AND 29, WEST 23RD STREET, NEW YORK.
All Rights reserved
## p. iii (#9) ##############################################
THE
CAMBRIDGE HISTORY
OF
ENGLISH LITERATURE
EDITED BY
12
A. W. WARD, Litt. D. , F. B. A. , Master of Peterhouse
AND
A. R. WALLER, M. A. , Peterhouse
VOLUME II
THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES
YHTINC ELVCEM
ROCVLA SACRE
6
CAMBRIDGE:
at the University Press
1908
## p. iv (#10) ##############################################
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIDRARY
543691B
ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
R 1950 L
Cambridge:
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M. A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
## p. v (#11) ###############################################
PREFATORY NOTE
THE editors of The Cambridge History of English Literature
are glad to find by the welcome extended to their first
volume that the work apparently goes some way towards meeting
the needs of those for whose use it was undertaken. They are
very sensible of the kindness of those critics who have pointed
out where it was thought that improvements could be made;
and, in several cases, they have been able to avail themselves of
these suggestions. The editors are especially pleased to find
that the purpose of the short editorial sections included in the
text has been generally understood, and that the notes attached
to the bibliographies have been found to be useful.
Simultaneously with the printing of the second volume, it has
been found necessary to prepare a second impression of the
first; and advantage has been taken of this occasion to correct
a few misprints and errors and to add one or two notes. In
order that purchasers of the first impression may not be placed
at any disadvantage in this respect, a printed slip, setting forth
corrections of importance that have been made in the first
volume, is inserted in all copies of the second volume.
Pressure of material, and the desire to consult the con-
venience of students, have prevented the editors from dealing in
the present volume with the beginnings of the English drama.
The chapters concerned with the early religious plays have been
transferred to the earlier of the two volumes which will deal
consecutively with the general history of the English drama from
its beginnings to the closing of the theatres under the Puritan
régime. It is not necessary to remind the student that, in any
collective estimate of the English literature of the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, with which the present volume is chiefly
& B MAR 31 50
## p. vi (#12) ##############################################
vi
Prefatory Note
concerned, the miracle plays must be regarded as of the greatest
importance.
The third volume, Renascence and Reformation, is in the
press.
It deals with Erasmus and More, Barclay and Skelton,
Lindsay and Knox; with the poetry (other than dramatic) as well
as the prose of the earlier Tudor age; and it contains chapters, in
sequence to those in volume I, concerning changes in language
and prosody to the days of Elizabeth. The editors hope that it
may be in their power to publish this third volume before the
close of the present year; should they find it impossible to
accomplish this task, they desire that the blame may be imputed
not to the contributing authors, whose aid throughout has been
generous and ungrudging, but to editorial difficulties, into the
details of which it would be wearisome to enter here.
A. W. W.
A. R. W.
CAMBRIDGE,
20 March 1908.
## p. vii (#13) #############################################
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
PIERS THE PLOWMAN AND ITS SEQUENCE
By JOHN MATTHEWS MANLY, Professor of English Literature
in the University of Chicago.
PAGE
The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman. Form of
the poems. Theories concerning authorship. The three texts.
The crowd in the valley. The tower of Truth. Holy Church.
The court at Westminster. Meed. Reason. The first vision.
The second vision. The way to truth. Piers and his pilgrims at
work. Piers' pardon. The scene in the ale-house. The third
vision. The search for Do-well, Do-better and Do-best. John But.
B-text. B's continuation of the poems. The merits of B's work.
The author of the C-text. Conclusion assumed that the poems
are not the work of a single author. Differences in the three
texts. Parallel passages. William Langland. John But. Mum,
Sothsegger. Wynnere and Wastoure. The Parlement of the Thre
Ages. Letters of the insurgents of 1381. Peres the Ploughmans
Crede. The Ploughman's Tale. Jacke Upland. The Crowned
King. Death and Liffe. The Scotish Feilde. The fourteenth
century
1
CHAPTER II
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY
RICHARD ROLLE. WYCLIF. THE LOLLARDS
By the Rev. J. P. WHITNEY, B. D. , King's College.
Bichard Rolle of Hampole. Rolle's mysticism. William Nassyngton.
Rolle and religion. The Pricke of Conscience. Wyclif's early
life. Wyclif and scholasticism. Wyclif's earlier writings. Attack
on Wyclif. The papal schism. The poor priests. The Bible in
English. Nicholas Hereford and John Purvey. Wyclif and
popular movements. Wyclif's views on the Eucharist. Wyclif's
later works. Wyclif's later life. The Lollards. Wyclif's per-
sonality
43
## p. viii (#14) ############################################
viii
Contents
CHAPTER III
THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH PROSE
TREVISA. THE MANDEVILLE TRANSLATORS
By ALICE D. GREENWOOD.
PAGE
Early English prose. Early translations. John Trevisa. Polychronicon.
Bartholomaeus. The travels of Sir John Mandeville. Jean
d'Outremeuse. Mandeville manuscripts. Mandeville's style. Man-
deville's detail
70
CHAPTER IV
THE SCOTTISH LANGUAGE
EARLY AND MIDDLE Scots
By G. GREGORY SMITH, M. A. , Balliol College, Oxford,
Professor of English Literature in Queen's College, Belfast.
“Scots' and 'Ynglis. ' Early Scots. Middle Scots. Southern influence
on Middle Scots. Latin and French elements in Middle Scots.
Alleged Celtic contributions .
88
CHAPTER V
THE EARLIEST SCOTTISH LITERATURE
BARBOUR, BLIND HARRY, HUCHOUN, WYNTOUN, HOLLAND
By PETER GILES, M. A. , Hon. LL. D. Aberdeen, Fellow of
Emmanuel College and Reader in Comparative Philology.
Early fragments. John Barbour. The Bruce. Blind Harry's Wallace.
Holland's Howlat. Huchoun of the Awle Ryale. Morte Arthure.
The Epistill of Suete Susane. The Awntyrs of Arthure.
Golagros and Gawane. Rauf Coilzear. Colkelbie's Sow. Lives
of the Saints. Gray's Scalacronica. Fordun and Bower's Scoti-
chronicon. Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil
100
CHAPTER VI
JOAN GOWER
By G. C. MACAULAY, M. A. , Trinity College,
Lecturer in English.
In
order that purchasers of the first impression may not be placed
at any disadvantage in this respect, a printed slip, setting forth
corrections of importance that have been made in the first
volume, is inserted in all copies of the second volume.
Pressure of material, and the desire to consult the con-
venience of students, have prevented the editors from dealing in
the present volume with the beginnings of the English drama.
The chapters concerned with the early religious plays have been
transferred to the earlier of the two volumes which will deal
consecutively with the general history of the English drama from
its beginnings to the closing of the theatres under the Puritan
régime. It is not necessary to remind the student that, in any
collective estimate of the English literature of the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, with which the present volume is chiefly
& B MAR 31 50
## p. vi (#12) ##############################################
vi
Prefatory Note
concerned, the miracle plays must be regarded as of the greatest
importance.
The third volume, Renascence and Reformation, is in the
press.
It deals with Erasmus and More, Barclay and Skelton,
Lindsay and Knox; with the poetry (other than dramatic) as well
as the prose of the earlier Tudor age; and it contains chapters, in
sequence to those in volume I, concerning changes in language
and prosody to the days of Elizabeth. The editors hope that it
may be in their power to publish this third volume before the
close of the present year; should they find it impossible to
accomplish this task, they desire that the blame may be imputed
not to the contributing authors, whose aid throughout has been
generous and ungrudging, but to editorial difficulties, into the
details of which it would be wearisome to enter here.
A. W. W.
A. R. W.
CAMBRIDGE,
20 March 1908.
## p. vii (#13) #############################################
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
PIERS THE PLOWMAN AND ITS SEQUENCE
By JOHN MATTHEWS MANLY, Professor of English Literature
in the University of Chicago.
PAGE
The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman. Form of
the poems. Theories concerning authorship. The three texts.
The crowd in the valley. The tower of Truth. Holy Church.
The court at Westminster. Meed. Reason. The first vision.
The second vision. The way to truth. Piers and his pilgrims at
work. Piers' pardon. The scene in the ale-house. The third
vision. The search for Do-well, Do-better and Do-best. John But.
B-text. B's continuation of the poems. The merits of B's work.
The author of the C-text. Conclusion assumed that the poems
are not the work of a single author. Differences in the three
texts. Parallel passages. William Langland. John But. Mum,
Sothsegger. Wynnere and Wastoure. The Parlement of the Thre
Ages. Letters of the insurgents of 1381. Peres the Ploughmans
Crede. The Ploughman's Tale. Jacke Upland. The Crowned
King. Death and Liffe. The Scotish Feilde. The fourteenth
century
1
CHAPTER II
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY
RICHARD ROLLE. WYCLIF. THE LOLLARDS
By the Rev. J. P. WHITNEY, B. D. , King's College.
Bichard Rolle of Hampole. Rolle's mysticism. William Nassyngton.
Rolle and religion. The Pricke of Conscience. Wyclif's early
life. Wyclif and scholasticism. Wyclif's earlier writings. Attack
on Wyclif. The papal schism. The poor priests. The Bible in
English. Nicholas Hereford and John Purvey. Wyclif and
popular movements. Wyclif's views on the Eucharist. Wyclif's
later works. Wyclif's later life. The Lollards. Wyclif's per-
sonality
43
## p. viii (#14) ############################################
viii
Contents
CHAPTER III
THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH PROSE
TREVISA. THE MANDEVILLE TRANSLATORS
By ALICE D. GREENWOOD.
PAGE
Early English prose. Early translations. John Trevisa. Polychronicon.
Bartholomaeus. The travels of Sir John Mandeville. Jean
d'Outremeuse. Mandeville manuscripts. Mandeville's style. Man-
deville's detail
70
CHAPTER IV
THE SCOTTISH LANGUAGE
EARLY AND MIDDLE Scots
By G. GREGORY SMITH, M. A. , Balliol College, Oxford,
Professor of English Literature in Queen's College, Belfast.
“Scots' and 'Ynglis. ' Early Scots. Middle Scots. Southern influence
on Middle Scots. Latin and French elements in Middle Scots.
Alleged Celtic contributions .
88
CHAPTER V
THE EARLIEST SCOTTISH LITERATURE
BARBOUR, BLIND HARRY, HUCHOUN, WYNTOUN, HOLLAND
By PETER GILES, M. A. , Hon. LL. D. Aberdeen, Fellow of
Emmanuel College and Reader in Comparative Philology.
Early fragments. John Barbour. The Bruce. Blind Harry's Wallace.
Holland's Howlat. Huchoun of the Awle Ryale. Morte Arthure.
The Epistill of Suete Susane. The Awntyrs of Arthure.
Golagros and Gawane. Rauf Coilzear. Colkelbie's Sow. Lives
of the Saints. Gray's Scalacronica. Fordun and Bower's Scoti-
chronicon. Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil
100
CHAPTER VI
JOAN GOWER
By G. C. MACAULAY, M. A. , Trinity College,
Lecturer in English.
His life. His political opinions. His literary work. The French
Speculum Meditantis (Mirour de l'Omme). The Latin Vox
Clamantis. The English Confessio Amantis. His latest works .
133
## p. ix (#15) ##############################################
Contents
ix
CHAPTER VII
CHAUCER
By GEORGE SAINTSBURY, M. A. , Merton College, Oxford, Professor
of Rhetoric and English Literature in the University of
Edinburgh.
PAGE
Chaucer's life. Canon of works. Early editions. Tyrwhitt's recension.
Later rearrangements. The Romaunt of the Rose. Early poems.
Troilus and Criseyde. The House of Fame. The Legend of
Good Women. The Canterbury Tales. Prose. The Astrolabe.
Boethius. Minor verse. Chaucer's learning. His humour. His
poetical quality. The tale of Gamelyn
156
.
CHAPTER VIII
THE ENGLISH CHAUCERIANS
By GEORGE SAINTSBURY, M. A.
Lydgate. Occleve. Burgh. George Ashby. Henry Bradshaw.
George Ripley. Thomas Norton. Osbern Bokenam. The Chau-
cerian apocrypha The tale of Beryn or The second Merchant's
tale. La Belle Dame sans Merci. The Cuckoo and the
Nightingale. The Assembly of Ladies. The Flower and the
Leaf. The Court of Love
197
.
CHAPTER IX
STEPHEN HAWES
By WILLIAM MURISON, M. A. Aberdeen.
The Passetyme of Pleasure. The Conversion of Swearers. A Joyful
Meditation to all England of the Coronation of Henry the
Eighth. The Example of Virtue. Hawes's learning and models.
His medievalism. His relation to Spenser. His metre
223
CHAPTER X
THE SCOTTISH CHAUCERIANS
By G. GREGORY SMITH, M. A.
James I. The Kingis Quair. The influence of Chaucer. Robert
Henryson. The Morall Fabillis of Esope. The Testament of
Cresseid. Henryson's shorter poems. William Dunbar. His
allegories. The grotesque in Dunbar. His prosodio range. Gavin
Douglas.
Find more books at https://www. hathitrust. org.
Title: The Cambridge history of English literature, ed. by A. W. Ward
and A. R. Waller.
Publisher: Cambridge, The University Press, 1908-1927.
Copyright:
Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized
http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
We have determined this work to be in the public domain in the United
States of America. It may not be in the public domain in other countries.
Copies are provided as a preservation service. Particularly outside of the
United States, persons receiving copies should make appropriate efforts to
determine the copyright status of the work in their country and use the
work accordingly. It is possible that current copyright holders, heirs or
the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as
illustrations or photographs, assert copyrights over these portions.
Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights
may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address. The
digital images and OCR of this work were produced by Google, Inc.
(indicated by a watermark on each page in the PageTurner). Google requests
that the images and OCR not be re-hosted, redistributed or used
commercially. The images are provided for educational, scholarly,
non-commercial purposes.
Find this book online: https://hdl. handle. net/2027/nyp. 33433112018688
This file has been created from the computer-extracted text of scanned page
images. Computer-extracted text may have errors, such as misspellings,
unusual characters, odd spacing and line breaks.
Original from: New York Public Library
Digitized by: Google
Generated at University of Chicago on 2022-12-31 14:30 GMT
## p. (#1) ##################################################
NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES
3 3433 11201 8688
## p. (#2) ##################################################
## p. (#3) ##################################################
NC
: ما نیست
## p. (#4) ##################################################
## p. (#5) ##################################################
1
## p. (#6) ##################################################
## p. i (#7) ################################################
THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY
OF
ENGLISH LITERATURE
VOLUME II
THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES
## p. ii (#8) ###############################################
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE
C. F. CLAY, MANAGER.
London: FETTER LANE, E. C.
Glasgow : 50, WELLINGTON STREET.
Paris : THE GALIGNANI LIBRARY.
Berlin: ASHER AND CO.
Bombay and Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO. , LTD.
Copyrighted in the United States of America by
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS,
27 AND 29, WEST 23RD STREET, NEW YORK.
All Rights reserved
## p. iii (#9) ##############################################
THE
CAMBRIDGE HISTORY
OF
ENGLISH LITERATURE
EDITED BY
12
A. W. WARD, Litt. D. , F. B. A. , Master of Peterhouse
AND
A. R. WALLER, M. A. , Peterhouse
VOLUME II
THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES
YHTINC ELVCEM
ROCVLA SACRE
6
CAMBRIDGE:
at the University Press
1908
## p. iv (#10) ##############################################
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIDRARY
543691B
ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
R 1950 L
Cambridge:
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M. A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
## p. v (#11) ###############################################
PREFATORY NOTE
THE editors of The Cambridge History of English Literature
are glad to find by the welcome extended to their first
volume that the work apparently goes some way towards meeting
the needs of those for whose use it was undertaken. They are
very sensible of the kindness of those critics who have pointed
out where it was thought that improvements could be made;
and, in several cases, they have been able to avail themselves of
these suggestions. The editors are especially pleased to find
that the purpose of the short editorial sections included in the
text has been generally understood, and that the notes attached
to the bibliographies have been found to be useful.
Simultaneously with the printing of the second volume, it has
been found necessary to prepare a second impression of the
first; and advantage has been taken of this occasion to correct
a few misprints and errors and to add one or two notes. In
order that purchasers of the first impression may not be placed
at any disadvantage in this respect, a printed slip, setting forth
corrections of importance that have been made in the first
volume, is inserted in all copies of the second volume.
Pressure of material, and the desire to consult the con-
venience of students, have prevented the editors from dealing in
the present volume with the beginnings of the English drama.
The chapters concerned with the early religious plays have been
transferred to the earlier of the two volumes which will deal
consecutively with the general history of the English drama from
its beginnings to the closing of the theatres under the Puritan
régime. It is not necessary to remind the student that, in any
collective estimate of the English literature of the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, with which the present volume is chiefly
& B MAR 31 50
## p. vi (#12) ##############################################
vi
Prefatory Note
concerned, the miracle plays must be regarded as of the greatest
importance.
The third volume, Renascence and Reformation, is in the
press.
It deals with Erasmus and More, Barclay and Skelton,
Lindsay and Knox; with the poetry (other than dramatic) as well
as the prose of the earlier Tudor age; and it contains chapters, in
sequence to those in volume I, concerning changes in language
and prosody to the days of Elizabeth. The editors hope that it
may be in their power to publish this third volume before the
close of the present year; should they find it impossible to
accomplish this task, they desire that the blame may be imputed
not to the contributing authors, whose aid throughout has been
generous and ungrudging, but to editorial difficulties, into the
details of which it would be wearisome to enter here.
A. W. W.
A. R. W.
CAMBRIDGE,
20 March 1908.
## p. vii (#13) #############################################
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
PIERS THE PLOWMAN AND ITS SEQUENCE
By JOHN MATTHEWS MANLY, Professor of English Literature
in the University of Chicago.
PAGE
The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman. Form of
the poems. Theories concerning authorship. The three texts.
The crowd in the valley. The tower of Truth. Holy Church.
The court at Westminster. Meed. Reason. The first vision.
The second vision. The way to truth. Piers and his pilgrims at
work. Piers' pardon. The scene in the ale-house. The third
vision. The search for Do-well, Do-better and Do-best. John But.
B-text. B's continuation of the poems. The merits of B's work.
The author of the C-text. Conclusion assumed that the poems
are not the work of a single author. Differences in the three
texts. Parallel passages. William Langland. John But. Mum,
Sothsegger. Wynnere and Wastoure. The Parlement of the Thre
Ages. Letters of the insurgents of 1381. Peres the Ploughmans
Crede. The Ploughman's Tale. Jacke Upland. The Crowned
King. Death and Liffe. The Scotish Feilde. The fourteenth
century
1
CHAPTER II
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY
RICHARD ROLLE. WYCLIF. THE LOLLARDS
By the Rev. J. P. WHITNEY, B. D. , King's College.
Bichard Rolle of Hampole. Rolle's mysticism. William Nassyngton.
Rolle and religion. The Pricke of Conscience. Wyclif's early
life. Wyclif and scholasticism. Wyclif's earlier writings. Attack
on Wyclif. The papal schism. The poor priests. The Bible in
English. Nicholas Hereford and John Purvey. Wyclif and
popular movements. Wyclif's views on the Eucharist. Wyclif's
later works. Wyclif's later life. The Lollards. Wyclif's per-
sonality
43
## p. viii (#14) ############################################
viii
Contents
CHAPTER III
THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH PROSE
TREVISA. THE MANDEVILLE TRANSLATORS
By ALICE D. GREENWOOD.
PAGE
Early English prose. Early translations. John Trevisa. Polychronicon.
Bartholomaeus. The travels of Sir John Mandeville. Jean
d'Outremeuse. Mandeville manuscripts. Mandeville's style. Man-
deville's detail
70
CHAPTER IV
THE SCOTTISH LANGUAGE
EARLY AND MIDDLE Scots
By G. GREGORY SMITH, M. A. , Balliol College, Oxford,
Professor of English Literature in Queen's College, Belfast.
“Scots' and 'Ynglis. ' Early Scots. Middle Scots. Southern influence
on Middle Scots. Latin and French elements in Middle Scots.
Alleged Celtic contributions .
88
CHAPTER V
THE EARLIEST SCOTTISH LITERATURE
BARBOUR, BLIND HARRY, HUCHOUN, WYNTOUN, HOLLAND
By PETER GILES, M. A. , Hon. LL. D. Aberdeen, Fellow of
Emmanuel College and Reader in Comparative Philology.
Early fragments. John Barbour. The Bruce. Blind Harry's Wallace.
Holland's Howlat. Huchoun of the Awle Ryale. Morte Arthure.
The Epistill of Suete Susane. The Awntyrs of Arthure.
Golagros and Gawane. Rauf Coilzear. Colkelbie's Sow. Lives
of the Saints. Gray's Scalacronica. Fordun and Bower's Scoti-
chronicon. Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil
100
CHAPTER VI
JOAN GOWER
By G. C. MACAULAY, M. A. , Trinity College,
Lecturer in English.
In
order that purchasers of the first impression may not be placed
at any disadvantage in this respect, a printed slip, setting forth
corrections of importance that have been made in the first
volume, is inserted in all copies of the second volume.
Pressure of material, and the desire to consult the con-
venience of students, have prevented the editors from dealing in
the present volume with the beginnings of the English drama.
The chapters concerned with the early religious plays have been
transferred to the earlier of the two volumes which will deal
consecutively with the general history of the English drama from
its beginnings to the closing of the theatres under the Puritan
régime. It is not necessary to remind the student that, in any
collective estimate of the English literature of the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, with which the present volume is chiefly
& B MAR 31 50
## p. vi (#12) ##############################################
vi
Prefatory Note
concerned, the miracle plays must be regarded as of the greatest
importance.
The third volume, Renascence and Reformation, is in the
press.
It deals with Erasmus and More, Barclay and Skelton,
Lindsay and Knox; with the poetry (other than dramatic) as well
as the prose of the earlier Tudor age; and it contains chapters, in
sequence to those in volume I, concerning changes in language
and prosody to the days of Elizabeth. The editors hope that it
may be in their power to publish this third volume before the
close of the present year; should they find it impossible to
accomplish this task, they desire that the blame may be imputed
not to the contributing authors, whose aid throughout has been
generous and ungrudging, but to editorial difficulties, into the
details of which it would be wearisome to enter here.
A. W. W.
A. R. W.
CAMBRIDGE,
20 March 1908.
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
PIERS THE PLOWMAN AND ITS SEQUENCE
By JOHN MATTHEWS MANLY, Professor of English Literature
in the University of Chicago.
PAGE
The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman. Form of
the poems. Theories concerning authorship. The three texts.
The crowd in the valley. The tower of Truth. Holy Church.
The court at Westminster. Meed. Reason. The first vision.
The second vision. The way to truth. Piers and his pilgrims at
work. Piers' pardon. The scene in the ale-house. The third
vision. The search for Do-well, Do-better and Do-best. John But.
B-text. B's continuation of the poems. The merits of B's work.
The author of the C-text. Conclusion assumed that the poems
are not the work of a single author. Differences in the three
texts. Parallel passages. William Langland. John But. Mum,
Sothsegger. Wynnere and Wastoure. The Parlement of the Thre
Ages. Letters of the insurgents of 1381. Peres the Ploughmans
Crede. The Ploughman's Tale. Jacke Upland. The Crowned
King. Death and Liffe. The Scotish Feilde. The fourteenth
century
1
CHAPTER II
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY
RICHARD ROLLE. WYCLIF. THE LOLLARDS
By the Rev. J. P. WHITNEY, B. D. , King's College.
Bichard Rolle of Hampole. Rolle's mysticism. William Nassyngton.
Rolle and religion. The Pricke of Conscience. Wyclif's early
life. Wyclif and scholasticism. Wyclif's earlier writings. Attack
on Wyclif. The papal schism. The poor priests. The Bible in
English. Nicholas Hereford and John Purvey. Wyclif and
popular movements. Wyclif's views on the Eucharist. Wyclif's
later works. Wyclif's later life. The Lollards. Wyclif's per-
sonality
43
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viii
Contents
CHAPTER III
THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH PROSE
TREVISA. THE MANDEVILLE TRANSLATORS
By ALICE D. GREENWOOD.
PAGE
Early English prose. Early translations. John Trevisa. Polychronicon.
Bartholomaeus. The travels of Sir John Mandeville. Jean
d'Outremeuse. Mandeville manuscripts. Mandeville's style. Man-
deville's detail
70
CHAPTER IV
THE SCOTTISH LANGUAGE
EARLY AND MIDDLE Scots
By G. GREGORY SMITH, M. A. , Balliol College, Oxford,
Professor of English Literature in Queen's College, Belfast.
“Scots' and 'Ynglis. ' Early Scots. Middle Scots. Southern influence
on Middle Scots. Latin and French elements in Middle Scots.
Alleged Celtic contributions .
88
CHAPTER V
THE EARLIEST SCOTTISH LITERATURE
BARBOUR, BLIND HARRY, HUCHOUN, WYNTOUN, HOLLAND
By PETER GILES, M. A. , Hon. LL. D. Aberdeen, Fellow of
Emmanuel College and Reader in Comparative Philology.
Early fragments. John Barbour. The Bruce. Blind Harry's Wallace.
Holland's Howlat. Huchoun of the Awle Ryale. Morte Arthure.
The Epistill of Suete Susane. The Awntyrs of Arthure.
Golagros and Gawane. Rauf Coilzear. Colkelbie's Sow. Lives
of the Saints. Gray's Scalacronica. Fordun and Bower's Scoti-
chronicon. Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil
100
CHAPTER VI
JOAN GOWER
By G. C. MACAULAY, M. A. , Trinity College,
Lecturer in English.
His life. His political opinions. His literary work. The French
Speculum Meditantis (Mirour de l'Omme). The Latin Vox
Clamantis. The English Confessio Amantis. His latest works .
133
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Contents
ix
CHAPTER VII
CHAUCER
By GEORGE SAINTSBURY, M. A. , Merton College, Oxford, Professor
of Rhetoric and English Literature in the University of
Edinburgh.
PAGE
Chaucer's life. Canon of works. Early editions. Tyrwhitt's recension.
Later rearrangements. The Romaunt of the Rose. Early poems.
Troilus and Criseyde. The House of Fame. The Legend of
Good Women. The Canterbury Tales. Prose. The Astrolabe.
Boethius. Minor verse. Chaucer's learning. His humour. His
poetical quality. The tale of Gamelyn
156
.
CHAPTER VIII
THE ENGLISH CHAUCERIANS
By GEORGE SAINTSBURY, M. A.
Lydgate. Occleve. Burgh. George Ashby. Henry Bradshaw.
George Ripley. Thomas Norton. Osbern Bokenam. The Chau-
cerian apocrypha The tale of Beryn or The second Merchant's
tale. La Belle Dame sans Merci. The Cuckoo and the
Nightingale. The Assembly of Ladies. The Flower and the
Leaf. The Court of Love
197
.
CHAPTER IX
STEPHEN HAWES
By WILLIAM MURISON, M. A. Aberdeen.
The Passetyme of Pleasure. The Conversion of Swearers. A Joyful
Meditation to all England of the Coronation of Henry the
Eighth. The Example of Virtue. Hawes's learning and models.
His medievalism. His relation to Spenser. His metre
223
CHAPTER X
THE SCOTTISH CHAUCERIANS
By G. GREGORY SMITH, M. A.
James I. The Kingis Quair. The influence of Chaucer. Robert
Henryson. The Morall Fabillis of Esope. The Testament of
Cresseid. Henryson's shorter poems. William Dunbar. His
allegories. The grotesque in Dunbar. His prosodio range. Gavin
Douglas.
