THE CONTENTS.

The

§ I. The Dramatic Form of Novel-writing invented by Boccaccio. 'Decameron' a species of Comedy. § II. The 'Canterbury Tales' composed in imitation of the 'Decameron.' Design of this Discourse to give, 1. The General Plan of them; and, 2. A Review of the Parts contained in this Edition. § III. The GENERAL PLAN of the Canterbury Tales,' as originally designed by Chaucer. § IV. Parts of this Plan not Executed. § V. Review of the Parts contained in this Edition.-THE PROLOGUE. The Time of the Pilgrimage. § VI. The Number of the Company. § VII. Their Agreement to Tell Tales for their Diversion upon their Journey. § VIII. Their Characters. Their Setting Out. The Knight appointed by Lot to tell the first Tale. § IX. THE Knight's Tale copied from the 'Theseida' of Boccaccio. A Summary Account of the 'Theseida.' § X. The Monk called upon to tell a Tale; interrupted by the Miller. § XI. THE MILLER'S TALE. § XII. THE REEVE'S TALE. The Principal Incidents taken from an old French Fabliau. § XIII. THE COOK'S TALE; imperfect in all the MSS. No Foundation for ascribing the Story of Gamelyn' to Chaucer. § XIV. THE PROLOGUE to the MAN OF LAW'S TALE. The Progress of the Pilgrims upon their Journey. A Reflection seemingly levelled at Gower. § XV. THE MAN OF LAW'S TALE taken from Gower, who was not the Inventor of it. A similar Story in a Lay of Bretagne. § XVI. Reasons for placing the Wife of Bath's Prologue next to the Man of Law's Tale. § XVII. THE WIFE OF BATH'S PROLOGUE. § XVIII. THE WIFE OF BATH'S TALE, taken from the Story of Florent in Gower, or from some older Narrative. The Fable much Improved by Chaucer. § XIX. THE TALES OF THE FRIAR AND THE SOMPNOUR. § XX. THE CLERK'S TALE, said by Chaucer to be borrowed from Petrarch, whose work upon this subject is a mere translation from Boccaccio. § XXI. Reasons for changing the Order of the three last Stanzas of the Ballad at the end of the Clerk's Tale, and for placing the Prologue to the Merchant's Tale immediately after them. § XXII. THE MERCHANT'S TALE. The Adventure of the Pear-tree in the 'Latin Fables' of Adolphus. The Pluto and Proserpine of Chaucer revived by Shakspeare under the names of Oberon and Titania. § XXIIL A New

PROLOGUE TO THE SQUIRE'S TALE, (now first printed,) connecting it with the Merchant's Tale. § XXIV. THE SQUIRE'S TALE, probably never finished by Chaucer. § XXV. THE FRANKLIN'S PROLOGUE, attributed to the Merchant in the common Editions. Reasons for restoring it to the Franklin. § XXVI. THE FRANKLIN'S TALE, taken from a Lay of Bretagne. The same Story twice told by Boccaccio. § XXVII. Reasons for removing the Tales of the Nun and Canon's Yeoman to the end of the Nun's Priest's Tale. § XXVIII. Doubts concerning the Prologue to the Doctor's Tale. § XXIX. THE DOCTOR'S TALE. The Story of Virginia from Livy. § XXX. THE PARDONER'S PROLOGUE. The proper use of the Prologue in this Work. The Outline of the PARDONER'S TALE in the 'Cento Novelle Antiche.' § XXXI. Reasons for transferring to the Shipman a Prologue which has usually been prefixed to the Tale of the Squire. THE SHIPMAN'S TALE, probably borrowed from some French Fableour older than Boccaccio. § XXXII. THE PRIORESS'S PROLOGUE AND TALE. § XXXIII. Chaucer called upon for his Tale. His RHYME OF SIR TOPAS a ridicule upon the old Metrical Romances. § XXXIV. His other Tale of MELIBEE, in Prose, a Translation from the French. § XXXV. THE MONK'S TALE, upon the plan of Boccaccio's work, 'De Casibus Virorum Illustrium.' § XXXVI. THE TALE OF THE NUN'S PRIEST. The Groundwork borrowed from a Fable of Marie, a French Poetess. § XXXVII. THE NUN'S TALE not connected with any preceding Tale. Translated from the Life of St Cecilia in the 'Golden Legend.' Originally composed as a separate Work. § XXXVIII. THE TALE OF THE CANON'S YEOMAN, a Satire against the Alchemists. § XXXIX. THE MANCIPLE'S PROLOGUE. The Pilgrims advanced to a place called 'Bob up and down.' THE MANCIPLE'S TALE the Fable of 'Coronis' in Ovid. § XL. The Poem called 'The Ploughman's Tale,' why omitted in this Edition. § XLI. THE PARSON'S PROLOGUE. The Time of the Day. THE PARSON'S TALE, a Treatise on Penance. § XLII. Remarks upon what is commonly called the RETRACTATION, at the end of the Parson's Tale. CONCLUSION.