Mar. 29. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



235 



found the very vial from wliich this pestilent odour 

 was issuing. It contained a small frajiment of clotli, 

 which was thus labelled, ' Ex culii/is Divi Martini Lu- 

 theri,'' that is to say, ' ^/ bit of the Breeehc.i of Saint 

 Mirtin L«t/ter,' which the aforesaid two Lutheran 

 ministers, by way of mockery of our piety, had slily 

 packed up with tlie holy relics in the casket. The 

 bishop instantly gave orders to burn this alioiv.iiiable 

 rag of the great heresiarch, and forthwith, nut only the 

 stench ecascd, but there proceeded from the true relics 

 such a delicious and heavenly odour as perfumed the 

 entire building. " 



IIXUSTRATIONS OF CHAUCER, NO. II. 

 Complaint of Mars and Vemis. 



T am not aware tliat the obvious astronomical 

 allegory, which lurks in Chaucer's " Complaint of 

 Mars and Venus," has been pointed out, or tliat 

 any attempt has been made to explain it. In 

 Tyrwhitt's slight notice of that poem, prefixed to 

 his glossary, there is not the most remote hint 

 that he perceived its nstronomical siL'niticance, or 

 that he looked upon it in any other light than 

 "that it was intended to describe the situation of 

 some two lovers under a veil of mystical allegory." 



But, as I understand it, it plainly describes an 

 astronomical conjunction of the jdanets Mars and 

 A^'enus, in the last degree of Taurus, and on the 

 12th of April. 



These three conditions are not likely to concur 

 except at very rare intervals — it is possible they 

 may have been only tlieoreticnl — but it is also 

 possible that they may have really occurred under 

 Chaucer's observation ; it might therefore well 

 repay the labour bestowed upon it if some person, 

 possessed of time, patience, and the ret|uisite 

 tables, would calculate whether any conjunction, 

 conforming in such particulars, did really take 

 place within the latter half of the iburteenth cen- 

 tury : if it was considered worth wdiile to search 

 out a described conjunction 2500 years before 

 Christ, in order to test the credibility of Chinese 

 records, it would surely be not less interesting to 

 confirm the accuracy of Ciiaucer's astronomy, of 

 his fondness for which, and of his desire to bring 

 it forward on all ])ossible occasions, he has given 

 so many ])roofs in his writings. 



The data to be gathered from the little poem 

 in question are unfbrtuiiatelv neitiier very nume- 

 rous nor very delinitci Init t think the lullowiiig 

 points are sullicietitly plain. 



Ist. The entrance of Mars into the sign Taurus 

 (domiis Veneris), v/herein an assignation has been 

 made between him and Venus : 



" That Mars shall enter as fast as tie may glide, 

 In to hi-r tip.rt jialais to abide, 

 Walking his course 'till she had him yt;ike, 

 And he pr:iyed her to hast her lor his sake." 



2nd. The nearly doidjle velocity in ajiparent 

 ecliptic motion of Veiuis as compared with Mars : 



" Wherefore she spedded as fast in her way 

 Almost in one day as he did in twuy." 

 3d. The conjunction : 

 " The great joy that was betwix hem t«o, 

 When they be mette, there may no tong tell. 

 There is no more — but into be<l they go." 

 4th. The entrance of the Sun into Taurus, as 

 indicated in the unceremonious intrusion of Phe- 

 bus into Venus' chamber ; which, as though to 

 confirm its identity with Taurus, 



" Depainted was with white boles grete ;" 

 whereupon Mars complains : 



" This twelve dayes of April I endure 

 llirough jelous Phebus this misaventure." 

 (It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader of 

 Chaucer, that in the poet's time the Sun would 

 enter Taurus on the 12th of April.) 



" Now flieth Venus in to Ciclinius tour. 

 With void corse, for fear of Phebus light." 



These two lines, so obscure at first sight, afford, 

 when pro]K;rly understood, the strongest confirm- 

 ation of the astronomical meaning of the whole ; 

 while, by indicating the conjunction on the last 

 degree of Taurus, they furnish a most essential 

 element for its identification. 



I confess that this " Ciclinius" gave me a good 

 deal of trouble ; but, taking as a guide the astro- 

 nomical myth so evident throughout, 1 came to 

 the conviction that " Ciclinius" is a corruption, 

 and that Chaucer wrote, or intended to write, 

 Cri-LENius — a well-known epitliet of Mercury, 

 and used too in an astronomical sense by Virgil, 

 '* ignis cadi Ci/Ueniits." ^ 



Now the sign Gemini is also " domiis Mercurii; ' 

 so that when Venus fled into the tour of Cyllcnius, 

 she siinplv slipped into the next door to her own 

 house of Taurus — leaving poor Mars behind to 

 halt after her as he best might. 



Gth. Mars is almost stationarj' : 



" He passeth but a sterre in dales two." 



There still remain one or two baffling points ia 

 the description, one of which is the line — 



" Fro Venus Valanus might this palais see," 

 which I am convinced is corrupt : I have formed 

 a guess as to its true meaning, but it is not as yet 

 fully confirmed. 



Tiie other doubtful points are comprised in the 

 following lines, which huve every appearance of 

 sifnilicunce ; and which, I have not the least 

 doulit, bear as close application as those already 

 explained: but, as yet, I must acknowledge an 

 inability to understand the allusions. After Venus 

 has entered Gemini — 



" Within the gate she fled into a cave : 



Dark was this cave and smoking as tlie hell ; 

 Nat but two pa;is within the gate it stood, 

 A natural day in darhe I let her dwell." 



A. E. B. 



Leeds, March 17. 



