254 Annual Meeting. [May 1, 



is doubtful whether the following lines from the " Prologe to the 

 Clerk of Oxenford's Tale," refer to the poet himself, or the original 

 narrator of the story. 



" I will yow telle a tale, which that I 

 Lerned at Padowe of a worthy clerk 

 As proved by his wordes and his werk 

 Frances Petrark, the laureat poete 

 Highte this clerk, whos rhetorique swete 

 Enlumynd all Ytail of poetrie." 



It would be rash to expect that Chaucer will ever regain his 

 position as a national favourite. All that we can claim for him is 

 •the recognition of his surpassing worth as an adjunct to the chro- 

 niclers of his age, as standing, both by right of time and right of 

 power, in a similar relation to English literature with that of the 

 *' all Etruscan three " to Italian, as no less worthy than Petrarch 

 himself of the laurel crown. His vigour and freshness are, like 

 nature herself, perennial ; his powers of observation have never 

 been surpassed ; his vein of humour and portraiture of manners 

 have been exceeded by Shakspeare alone. He is not only the most 

 conspicuous, but also the sole intellectual representative of England 

 in the 14th century, and his true and lively pictures of its men and 

 manners render the dry bones of its chronicles still capable of 

 receiving form, motion, and life. In his own words, slightly mo- 

 dified — 



*' Though he be hoar, he fares as doth a tree 

 That blossometh ere the fruit y-waxen be : 

 The blossomy tree is neither dry nor dead ; 

 He feeleth nowhere hoar but on his head; 

 His hearte and all his limbes be as greene 

 As laurel through the yeare is for to seene." 



[W. B. D.] 



ANNUAL MEETING, 



Thursday, May 1. 



The Duke of Northumberland, K.G., F.R.S., President, 

 in the Chair. 



The Annual Report of the Committee of Visitors was read, and 

 adopted.— It states that the account of Expenditure for 1855 has 

 been duly examined, and the several items thereof compared with 

 the vouchers ; and that the Receipts continue in a satisfactory 

 state, the Annual Contributions being equal to those of 1854, and 

 superior to any former year ; while the compositions received from 

 Members, in lieu of future annual payments, have been above the 

 average number. The surplus income beyond the expenditure has 



