OBSERVATIONS ON THE LANGUAGE OF GOWER'S C< :. HO AMANTI 



2G7 



words arc question-; of orthography, even that essential matter of the nu Lberofgyt 

 lables, without a knowledge of which we shall be rather presumptuous to pretend to reg- 

 ulate the metre. 



1 have used Pauli's text because it was the beat I could et But it must be distinctly 



understood that the language of Gower means iu this paper the language of Fkiili 9 ! 



Gower, as in the other the language of Chaucer means the language of 

 of one of the Harleian manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales. 



This article, beins; intended as a supplement to the paper on Chaucer 



>-■ 



up m 



of th< 



form, so as to afibi 



:ly eom])arison. Tl 



>' 



numbers of the sections, and the notation correspond. It may be 



d that the subject of the article is realty 



§ 97. The misccllaneoui 



notes which follow contain a few things noticed in passing which may on some occasion 



be useful ; but they are purely incidental, and do not profess to be complete. 



A slight inspection will show a close general agreement between Chaucer and Gower, 



{Terence that G 



o 



speaking, be 



ays remembered, only of the texts which 1 



lb. 



used.) Tl 



umber of superfluous final e's, which cannot be disposed of by rules drawn bom the 

 self is immeasurably greater in Chaucer than in Gower. The frequently recur 



words, time, sone, and love, which are in the great majority of cases monosyllabl 



Chaucer, arc, with 



ption 



the 



of the first two, of 



B 



G 



termina- 



er. The singular of the imperfect of simple verbs loses its characteristic 

 in e much less frequently in Gower, and the present participle terminates, with fev 

 ptions, in the Saxon -ende, whereas, in Chaucer the modem ending (i. e., -yng) is de 



idedly the rule 



The more ancient termination of the plural of 



present indi 



th) is, however, commoner in Chaucer than in G 



Elda com(e) horn the sam'J night, i. 187. 



thus dar I make[n] a forward, i. 296. 



that I dar speke and say all out[e], i. 29«. 



her womb'j which of childe aros, ii. 169. 



he slept and ros when it was time, ii. 257. 



and had a wif which Philcn hight, ii. 261). 



worn man may like of that I write, i. 2. 



soin man whan he most true appewth, i. 82. 



som wilde place that it were, i. 290. 



wkos righto name Alraeus was, i. 36a. 



whoH love his strength ail overthrew(e), ii»- ^^ 



for well I ivot that wo! nought be, ii. 276. 



I wot the last of my bargein, ii. 277, 



at home with him so as he telleth, i. 207. 

 as for that time I (fare well sweri i. 135. 



for I dare make this behest, i. ITS. 



this noise arose, this loria it hertle, i. 268. 



fro deth he rose the thridde day, i. 273, 



his Wife that she him WtildS saine, i. 208. 



mme >odIy word that the was told(e), i. 123. 

 }}M good ensampk upon this \oti % i. « 



so thai best* him may devouiv, i. 21)0. 



whose reulo *ant out of the wey, L 41 ^ 



w hose prest I am touch L«nd L >] of tor* L 1 K 

 for whan I wote her good estate), i. 136. 



Govl wote if thou it shall «capt, i. 131). 



etc., etc. 



