[692] Cf. H. C. Coote in Athenæum, 7th June, 1884, No. 2954.
[693] If Dante moved Chaucer most, it is from Boccaccio he borrows most. Troilus and Criseyde is to a great extent a translation of the Filostrato. Cf. Rossetti, W. M., Chaucer's "Troylus and Criseyde" compared with Boccaccio's "Filostrato" (Chaucer Society, 1875 and 1883). The Knightes Tale is a free rendering of the Teseide. The design of the Canterbury Tales was in some sort modelled on the design of the Decameron. As we have seen, The Reeves Tale, The Frankeleynes Tale, The Schipmannes Tale are all found in the Decameron, though it is doubtful perhaps whether Chaucer got them thence. The Monks Tale is from De Casibus Virorum.
Did Chaucer meet Petrarch and Boccaccio in Italy? He seems to wish to suggest that he had met the former at Padua, but, as I have said, of the latter he says not a word, but gives "Lollius" as his authority when he uses Boccaccio's work. Cf. Dr. Koch's paper in Chaucer Society Essays, Pt. IV. Jusserand in Nineteenth Century, June, 1896, and in reply Bellezza in Eng. Stud., 23 (1897), p. 335.
[694] Cf. Koeppel, Studien zur Geschichte der Italienischen Novelle in der Englischen Litteratur des sechszehnten Jahrhunderts in Quellen und Forschungen zur Sprach und Culturgeschichte der germanischen Volkes (Strassburg, 1892), Vol. LXX.
| Decameron, | ||||
| Day | i. | Nov. | 3 | Painter's Palace of Pleasure, i. 30 (1566). |
| " | i. | " | 5 | " " " ii. 16 (1567). |
| " | i. | " | 8 | " " " i. 31. |
| " | i. | " | 10 | " " " i. 32. |
| " | ii. | " | 2 | " " " i. 33. |
| " | ii. | " | 3 | " " " i. 34. |
| " | ii. | " | 4 | " " " i. 35. |
| " | ii. | " | 5 | " " " i. 36. |
| " | ii. | " | 6 | Greene's Perimedes the Blacksmith (1588). |
| " | ii. | " | 8 | Painter's Palace of Pleasure, i. 37. |
| " | ii. | " | 9 | Westward for Smelts, by Kind Kit of Kingston, ii. (1620). |
| " | iii. | " | 5 | H. C.'s Forest of Fancy, i. (1579). |
| " | iii. | " | 9 | Painter's Palace of Pleasure, i. 38. |
| " | iv. | " | 1 | " " " i. 39 and others. |
| " | iv. | " | 2 | Tarlton's News out of Purgatorie, 2 (1590). |
| " | iv. | " | 4 | Turbeville's Tragical Tales, 6 (ca. 1576). |
| " | iv. | " | 5 | " " " 7. |
| " | iv. | " | 7 | " " " 9. |
| " | iv. | " | 8 | " " " 10. |
| " | iv. | " | 9 | " " " 4. |
| " | v. | " | 1 | A Pleasant and Delightful History of Galesus, Cymon and Iphigenia, etc. by T. C. gent. Ca. 1584. |
| " | v. | " | 2 | Greene's Perimedes the Blacksmith. |
| " | v. | " | 7 | H. C.'s Forest of Fancy, ii. |
| " | v. | " | 8 | A notable History of Nastagio and Traversari, etc., trs. in English verse by C. T. (1569), and Turbeville, i., and Forest of Fancy. |
| " | vi. | " | 4 | Tarlton's News, No. 4. |
| " | vi. | " | 10 | " " No. 5. |
| " | vii. | " | 1 | The Cobler of Caunterburie, No. 2. |
| " | vii. | " | 4 | Westward for Smelts, No. 3. |
| " | vii. | " | 5 | Cf. Thomas Twyne's Schoolmaster (1576). |
| " | vii. | " | 6 | Tarton's News, No. 7. |
| " | vii. | " | 7 | Hundred Mery Talys, No. 3 (1526). |
| " | vii. | " | 8 | The Cobler of Caunterburie. |
| " | viii. | " | 4 | Nachgeahunt of Whetstone (1583). |
| " | viii. | " | 7 | Painter's Palace of Pleasure, ii. 31. |
| " | ix. | " | 2 | Thomas Twyne's Schoolmaster. William Warner's Albion's England (1586-1592). |
| " | ix. | " | 6 | Cf. A Right Pleasant Historie of the Mylner of Abingdon (?). |
| " | x. | " | 3 | Painter's Palace of Pleasure, ii. 18. |
| " | x. | " | 4 | " " " ii. 19. |
| " | x. | " | 5 | " " " ii. 17. |
| " | x. | " | 8 | The History of Tryton and Gesyppustrs, out of the Latin by William Wallis (?),and The Boke of the Governours by Sir Thomas Elyot, lib. ii. cap. xii. (1531). |
| " | x. | " | 9 | Painter's Palace of Pleasure,[A] ii. 20. |
| " | x. | " | 10 | The Pleasant and Sweet History of Patient Grissel (?) and another (1619). |
[A] Painter's Palace of Pleasure is almost certainly the source of the Tales of Boccaccio which Shakespeare used.
[695] This first translation has been reprinted by Mr. Charles Whibley in The Tudor Translations (4 vols., David Nutt, 1909), with an introduction by Edward Hutton. In it the story of Fra Rustico (III, 10) has been omitted by the anonymous translator, and a harmless Scandinavian tale substituted for it.
[696] In 1804, 1820, 1822, 1846 (1875), 1884, 1886, 1896.
[697] A reprint of the 1896 edition of the Decameron translated by J. M. Rigg, with J. A. Symonds's essay as Introduction (Routledge, 1905), and the edition spoken of supra, [n. 2.]
[698] Filacolo (ed. cit.), ii. pp. 242-3. I give the whole passage for the sake of clearness: "Ma non lungo tempo quivi ricevuti noi dimorò, che abbandonata la semplice giovane [i.e. Giannai or Jeanne; he is speaking of his father] e l' armento tornò ne' suoi campi, e quivi appresso noi si tirò, e non guari lontano al suo natal sito la promessa fede a Giannai ad un altra, Garamita chiamata, ripromise e servò, di cui nuova prole dopo piccolo spazio riceveo. Io semplice e lascivo, come già dissi, le pedate dello ingannator padre seguendo, volendo un giorno nella paternal casa entrare, due orsi ferocissimi e terribili mi vidi avanti con gli occhi ardenti desiderosi della mia morte, de' quali dubitando io volsi i passi miei e da quell' ora innanzi sempre d' entrare in quella dubitai. Ma acciocchè io più vero dica, tanta fu la paura, che abbandonati i paternali campi, in questi boschi venni l' apparato uficio a operare...."