56 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



the glimmering twilight of the renaissance ; its noonday came 

 after the Turk drove from Constantinople Greek scholars 

 scattering them throughout Europe, and after Lascaris, Aldus^ 

 Politian and their friends kindled in the learned world a pass- 

 ion for Hellenic studies. 



Chaucer refers to more than a score of Latin authors, some 

 writers of poetry, others of prose. Ovid was his favorite poet ; 

 and for prose his favorite was Boethius, a writer of the late 

 Latin period, whose work " Consolation of PhilosopliA," he 

 translated, as Alfred the Great had previously done. He was 

 also conversant with some of the patristic writings of Jerome, 

 St. Augustine, Origen, and TertuUian. To the collection of 

 popular stories called the Gesta Romanoi'iim^ and to that other 

 singular collection called the Golden Legends, he often refers. 

 From the Legends his account of St. Cecilia was taken. 

 Innocent HI befoi-e he was Pope wrote a work called " De 

 conte?npfu jmindi^'' which Chaucer often quotes ; and he knew 

 the somewhat credulous book written by Orosius, to shew that 

 the troubles of the times were but a continuation of the war and 

 misery inseparable from every period of history, and were in 

 no way attributable to the early christians. Chaucer also refers 

 to works on medicine, on mathematics, and on astrologv which 

 he designates " superstitious cursedness." Of the books he 

 quotes, most have come down to these times, though a few are 

 known only by name. 



With the History of Troy, the most popular of the Aledie- 

 val legends, Chaucer was familiar, and turned it to good account. 

 The course that leg-end ran is interesting- to all lovers of English 

 literature. Benoit de Saint More took the account of Troy, 

 current under the shadowy names of Dictes, and of Dai-es, and 

 in the XIII century expanded it into a French poetical version 

 of nearly thirty thousand lines. That was turned by Guida da 

 Colunna into Latin prose without acknowledgment, and as until 

 thirty years since the plagiarism was not detected, for six cen- 

 turies Guido reaped in reputation where Benoit sowed. One 

 episode of the legend is the story of Troilus son of Priam, and 

 Cressida daughter of Calchas the Trojan priest. That story 



