Notes and Queries, Number 187, May 28, 1853 | Page 3

translacion Of a boke which called is Trophe, In Lumbard tongue, as men may rede and se, And in our vulgar, long or that he deyde Gave it the name of Troylous and Cresseyde."
Chaucer's translation is sometimes very close, sometimes rather free and paraphrastic, as may be seen in the following examples:
"But right as floures through the cold of night Yclosed, stoupen in hir stalkes lowe, Redressen hem ayen the Sunne bright, And spreaden in hir kinde course by rowe." Troilus and Creseide, b. ii.
"Come fioretto dal notturno gelo Chinato e chiuso, poi che il Sol l' imbianca, S'apre, e si leva dritto sopra il stelo." Boccaccio, Il Filostrato, iii. st. 13.
"She was right soche to sene in her visage As is that wight that men on bere ybinde." Troilus and Creseide, b. iv.
"Essa era tale, a guardarla nel viso, Qual donna morta alla fossa portata." Il Filostrato, v. st. 83.
"As fresh as faucon coming out of mew." Troilus and Creseide, b. iii.
"Come falcon ch' uscisse dal cappello." Il Filostrato, iv. st. 83.
"The Song of Troilus," in the first book of Troilus and Creseide, is a paraphrase from one of the Sonnets of Petrarca:
"S' Amor non è, che dunque è quel ch' i' sento? Ma s' egli è Amor, per Dio che cosa, e quale? Se buona, ond' è l' effetto aspro mortale?" Petrarca, Rime in Vita di Laura, Son. cii.
"If no love is, O God, what feele I so? And if love is, what thing and which is he? If love be good, from whence cometh my wo?" Troilus and Creseide, b. i.
Chaucer evidently had the following lines of the Paradiso in view when writing the invocation to the Virgin in The Second Nonnes Tale:
"Vergine Madre, figlia del tuo Figlio, Umile e alta più che creatura, Termine fisso d' eterno consiglio, Tu se' colei, che l' umana Natura, Nobilitasti sì, che il suo Fattore Non disdegno di farsi sua fattura." Paradiso, xxxiii, I.
"Thou maide and mother, doughter of thy Son, Thou well of mercy, sinful soules cure, In whom that God of bountee chees to won; Thou humble and high over every creature, Thou nobledest so fer forth our nature, That no desdaine the maker had of kinde His Son in blood and flesh to clothe and winde." The Second Nonnes Tale, 15,504.
Traces of Chaucer's proficiency in Italian are discoverable in almost all his poems; but I shall conclude with two citations from The Assembly of Foules:
"The day gan failen, and the darke night, That reveth beastes from hir businesse, Berafte me my booke for lacke of light." The Assembly of Foules, I. 85.
"Lo giorno se n'andava, e l'aer bruno Toglieva gli animai che sono in terra Dalle fatiche loro."--Inf. ii. 1.
"With that my hand in his he toke anon, Of which I comfort caught, and went in fast." The Assembly of Foules, I. 169.
"E poiche la sua mano alla mia pose Con lieto volto, ond' io mi confortai." Inf. iii. 19.
By the way, Chaucer commences The Assembly of Foules with part of the first aphorism of Hippocrates, "[Greek: Ho bios brachus hê de technê makrê]" (but this, I suppose, had been noticed before):
"The lyfe so short, the craft so long to lerne."
Chaucer was forty years old, or upwards, in 1372, when he was sent as an envoy to treat with the duke, citizens, and merchants of Genoa; and if, as is probable, he had translated Troilus and Creseide out of the "Lombarde tonge" in his youth (according to the testimony of Lydgate), it is not unreasonable to infer that his knowledge of Italian may have led to his being chosen to fill that office. But, however this may be, abundant proof has been adduced that Chaucer was familiarly acquainted with Italian.
I may briefly remark, in conclusion, that the dates and other circumstances favour the supposed interview at Padua, between Fraunceis Petrark the laureate poet, and Dan Chaucer,
"Floure of poets throughout all Bretaine."
J. M. B.
Tunbridge Wells.
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THE REBELLION OF '45.--UNPUBLISHED LETTER.
Inverness, 16th Aprile, 1746.
Dear Sirs,
This day about twelve our army came up with the rebels, about a mile above Lord President's house, in a muir called Drumrossie. They began the engagement first, by firing from a battery of six guns they had erected upon their right; but our cannon played so hott upon them, that they were obliged soon to fly, by which means we gote possession of their artillery, and so drove them before us for three miles of way. The cavalry gave them closs chase to the town of Inverness: {520} upon which the French ambassador (who is not well) sent out an officer, and a drum with him, offering to surrender at discretion; to which the duke made answer, that the French officers should be allowed to go about on their parole, and