Chaucer and Henry's Relatives i8i 



twig's, had in mind the wicker dwelHngs made by the Irish of that 

 period, though Sypherd himself does not draw the obvious infer- 

 ence.^ Even Kittredge, who first directed Sypherd's attention to 

 the Irish wicker liouses,- still has no explanation, as late as the 

 present year [1915], except the following^: 'Chaucer's erst- 

 while master, Prince Lionel, had lived in Ireland, and Chaucer 

 knew" scores of Englishmen who were familiar with Irish life.'* 



^He says (p. 153) : 'The evidence that has been presented shows the 

 entire likelihood that the Irish wicker-houses were known in England. 

 We may be sure that Chaucer would have been one of the first to hear 

 about such interesting things. His connection with the household of 

 Lionel must not be forgotten. Prince Lionel stayed in Ireland long 

 enough to learn much of the social conditions of the people, and on his 

 return must have told many tales of that wild country. Ttirough him 

 or through some of his followers, Chaucer, though not then in his 

 service [italics mine], may have heard of these wicker-houses.' 



'Sypherd, p. 141, note i. 



^ Chaucer and his Poetry, p. 104. 



*If Chaucer were still regarded as the author of Fragment B of the 

 Romance of the Rose, another confirmation of our theory might be 

 found in lines 3809-14: 



He was so ful of cursed rage; 



It sat him wel of his linage, 



For him an Irish womman bar. 



His tunge was fyled sharp, and squar, 



Poignaunt and right kerving, 



And wonder bitter in speking. 



Here lines 3811-12 correspond to these in Old French, as quoted by 

 Godefroy (4. 461) under Herese, erese, ircse, iresse: 

 II fu fiuz [z'ar. fiz] d'une vielle [var. 



vieille] irese [var. iresse], 

 Si ot [var. out] la geule [var. langue] molt 

 [var. moult] punese [var. perverse]. 



The lines corresponding to the English passage are, in Michel's edition 

 (4126-9) : 



Qu'il fu filz d'une vielle Irese, 



Si ot la langue moult punese, 



Et moult poignant, et moult amere ; 



Bien en retraioit a sa mere. 



Godefroy explains ircs(s)c as a noun masc. and fern., meaning 'heretic', 

 while Michel (and Skeat follows him) renders the word by 'Irlandaise,' 

 and Meon translates it by 'full of ire.' Chaucer, at least in later years, 

 would have understood the word, for in the Legend of Good Women 

 255-6 : 329-330) he uses the corresponding abstract noun : 



