Notes and Queries, Number 187, May 28, 1853 | Page 2

afforded {518} him
ample opportunities of becoming thoroughly acquainted with the
language and literature of Italy; the acquisition of which must have
been of easy accomplishment to Chaucer, already familiar with Latin
and French. So that it is not necessary to endow Chaucer "with all
human attainments as proof of his having spoken Italian."
Chaucer's own writings, however, afford the strongest evidence against
the opinion entertained by Sir Harris Nicolas, and such evidence as
cannot be controverted.
Chaucer loves to refer to Dante, and often translates passages from the
Divine Comedy. The following lines are very closely rendered from the

Paradiso, xiv. 28.:--
"Thou one, two, and thre, eterne on live, That raignest aie in thre, two,
and one, Uncircumscript, and all maist circumscrive." Last stanza of
Troilus and Creseide.
"Quell' uno e due e tre che sempre vive, E regna sempre in tre e due ed
uno, Non circonscritto, e tutto circonscrive." Dante, Il Paradiso, xiv.
28.
"Wel can the wise poet of Florence, That highte Dant, speken of this
sentence: Lo, in swiche maner rime is Dantes tale. Ful selde up riseth
by his branches smale Prowesse of man, for God of his goodnesse Wol
that we claime of him our gentillesse." Wif of Bathes Tale, 6707.
"Rade volte risurge per li rami L' umana probità: e questo vuole Quei
che la dà, perchè da lui si chiami." Purgatorio, vii. 121.
After relating the dread story of the Conte Ugolino, Chaucer refers to
Dante, from whom perhaps he derived it. (Conf. Inferno, xxxiii.)
"Who so wol here it in a longer wise, Redeth the grete poete of Itaille,
That highte Dante, for he can it devise Fro point to point, not o word
wol he faille." The Monkes Tale, 14,769.
"Bet than Vergile, while he was on live, Or Dant also."--The Freres
Tale, 7101.
The following lines refer to the Inferno, xiii. 64.:
"Envie is lavender of the court alway, For she ne parteth neither night
ne day, Out of the house of Cesar, thus saith Dant." Prologue to the
Legend of Good Women, 359.
"Dant that it tellen can" is mentioned in the House of Fame, book i.;
and Chaucer is indebted to him for some lines in that fine poem, as in
the description of the "egle, that with feathers shone all of gold" = un'
aquila nel ciel con penne d'oro; and the following line:

"O thought, that wrote all that I met." House of Fame, ii. 18.
"O mente, che scrivesti ciò ch' io vidi." Inferno, ii. 8.
The Knightes Tale exhibits numerous passages, lines, and expressions
verbally translated from the Teseide of Boccaccio, upon which it is
founded; such as Idio armipotente = Mars armipotent; Eterno admante
= Athamant eterne; Paura palida = pale drede; Le ire rosse come focho
= the cruel ire red as any glede. Boccaccio describes the wood in which
"Mars hath his sovereine mansion" as--
"Una selva sterile de robusti Cerri, Nodosi aspri e rigidi e vetusti. Vi si
sentia grandissimo romore, Ne vera bestia anchora ne pastore."
Teseide, book vii.
There is a purposed grisly ruggedness in the corresponding passage of
the Knightes Tale, which heightens the horrors of "thilke colde and
frosty region:"
"First on the wall was peinted a forest, In which ther wonneth neyther
man ne best, With knotty knarry barrein trees old Of stubbes sharpe
and hidous to behold; In which ther ran a romble and a swough, As
though a storme shuld bresten every bough." The Knightes Tale, 1977.
The death of Arcite is thus related by Boccaccio:
"La morte in ciascun membro era venuta Da piedi in su, venendo verso
il petto, Ed ancor nelle braccia era perduta La vital forza; sol nello
intelletto E nel cuore era ancora sostenuta La poca vita, ma già si
ristretto Eragli 'l tristo cor del mortal gelo Che agli occhi fe'
subitamente velo.
"Ma po' ch' egli ebbe perduto il vedere, Con seco cominciò a
mormorare, Ognor mancando più del suo podere: Nè troppo fece in ciò
lungo durare; Ma il mormorare trasportato in vere Parole, con assai
basso parlare Addio Emilia; e più oltre non disse, Chè l' anima
convenne si partisse." Teseide, book x. 112.

Chaucer loses nothing of this description in his condensed translation:
"For from his feet up to his brest was come The cold of deth, that had
him overnome. And yet moreover in his armes two The vital strength is
lost, and all ago. Only the intellect, withouten more, That dwelled in his
herte sike and sore, Gan feillen, when the herte felte deth; Dusked his
eyen two, and failled his breth. But on his ladie yet cast he his eye; His
laste word was; Mercy, Emelie!" The Knightes Tale, 2301.
Troilus and Creseide seems to have been translated from the