OBSERVATIONS ON THE LANGUAGE OF CHAUCER. 
experience, 7099 f. experiens, 5583, 10112 (6050, 
rh. with defens, which in 
old French is spelt both 
with and without a final e). 
plesaunce (Fr. plais- pleisauns, 8749. 
ance), 8840 f. 
norice, 5881. noris, 8494. 
pacience, 1085 f. paciens, 16312. 
sentence, 308 f, 14974f. sentens, 17352. 
forcé, 3910. fors (rh. cors), 17000. 
( solas, solaas, solaeé (N. Fr. solas) is rhymed with 
caas, allas * (N. Fr. cas, alas), Nicholas, was, 
800, 3654, 9149, 11114, 16689. 
| solace with place (N. Fr. place), 4144, 15193. 
fallaas and laas (N. Fr. las) are rightly written, 
2391. 
l lace and trespace (N. Fr. trespas), wrongly (?) 
1819. 
E (N. Fr. trace, trasse) and allas are rhymed, 
1953. 
trays and harnays (N. Fr. harnas, harnois), 2141. 
face (N. Fr. face) and trespace are rhymed, 9701. 
faas (face) is even rhymed with the English haas 
(has), 13117; and gras (grace) with Thopas, 15242, 
prefas (Fr. préface) occurs 12199. 
$ 92. Forconvenience' sake the final e in the above 
citations has been treated as silent. It is, however, a 
491 
question, and a question which may be called at least 
a difficult one to solve, whether the e in many cases 
was absolutely dropped, or only slightly pronounced. 
In very many lines the verse would be equally agree- 
able, whichever of the two should be done ; in some, 
the verse might be fuller to a good ear, if the e were 
slightly sounded ; in some, this sound would disturb 
the metre. 
A considerable number of these. exceptions might 
disappear on a comparison of manuscripts, but very 
many would doubtless remain. The vowel appears 
to be most frequently silent after the liquids, after w 
and v, t, d, and s.* 
Possibly, all that is to be said of this matter is, that ` 
the final e might be dropped freely, as in modern Ger- 
man verse, as : — 
das Erst' wir’ so, das Zweite so. 
der begehrt jede liebe Blum" für sich, 
und dünkelt ihm es wir’ kein Ehr’, 
und Gunst die nicht za pflücken wär. 
hat er so aller Treu', so aller Lieb' vergessen, 
ete., etc. — (Goethe’s Faust.) 
Of course we are not authorized, in the present 
state of our knowledge, to drop the superfluous e and 
indicate the omission by an apostrophe. 
CONTRACTIONS. 
$ 93. The e in final er is very frequently elided, 
especially under the circumstances in which final e 
would suffer elision. 
after (—aftr): and after that, Amor vincit omnia, 1 62. 
his breed, his alé, was alwày after oon, 343. 
he waytud after no pompé ne revérence, 527. 
anger (—angr): nis ther no morë woo, né anger, 
né ire, 12847. 
answer (= answr): the answer of this I letë to 
divines, 1325. ; i 
begger (= beggr): he was the beste begger in al his 
hous, 252. 
* las (from lassus) was, in the older French, variable 
according to the sex of the person uttering the exclama- 
tion; as, lasse! fait ele: halas! fait-il. Palsgrave has both 
forms also. The distinction is not preserved in Chaucer, 
but the diversity in the spelling of the word may possibly 
be owing to the existence of these two forms. Not so with 
the other words cited. ` 
coper (= &c.): he put this unce of coper in the 
croslet, 13236. 
delyver: and wondurly delyver, and gret of strengthe, 
84. : 
ever, never; and ever honoùred for his worthi- 
nesse, 50. 
withouté baké metě was never his hous, 345. 
that never ye schullen my corounë dere, 1824. 
as I cam never, I can nat tellen wher, 2812, 
ne in noon other placë never the mo, 9963. 
So, 1262, 8020, 80275 9605, 9618, 10077, 10078, 
15758, etc., etc. 
fader: schuld leté fader and moder and folwé me, 
5613. 
fether: as eny raven fether it schon for blak, 2146. 
DH 
* Some of the most noticeable words are the pronouns 
hire, here, oure, youre; the verb were; then sire, more, 
alle, tyme, sone (filius), trowe, have, give, love, sight’, woode, 
bliss’. 
