derives filbert from Phyllis; Conf. Amant. bk. iv. Lydgate writes filbert instead of Phyllis; Complaint of Black Knight, l. 68.
66. The pleinte of Dianire, the complaint of Deianira, referring to Ovid's letter 'Deianira Herculi'; so also that of Hermion refers to the letter entitled 'Hermione Orestae'; that of Adriane, to the 'Ariadne Theseo'; and that of Isiphilee, to the 'Hypsipyle Iasoni.'
68. bareyne yle, barren island; of which I can find no correct explanation by a previous editor. It refers to Ariadne, mentioned in the previous line. The expression is taken from Ariadne's letter to Theseus, in Ovid's Heroides, Ep. x. 59, where we find 'uacat insula cultu'; and just below—
'Omne latus terrae cingit mare; nauita nusquam,
Nulla per ambiguas puppis itura uias.'
Or, without referring to Ovid at all, the allusion might easily have been explained by observing Chaucer's Legend of Ariadne, l. 2163, where the island is described as solitary and desolate. It is said to have been the isle of Naxos.
69. Scan—The dreynt | e Lé | andér |. Here the pp. dreynt is used adjectivally, and takes the final e in the definite form. So in the Book of the Duchesse, 195, it is best to read the dreynte; and in the House of Fame, 1783, we must read the sweynte.
75. Alceste. The story of Alcestis—'that turned was into a dayesie'—is sketched by Chaucer in his Prologue to the Legend, l. 511, &c. No doubt he intended to include her amongst the Good Women, as the very queen of them all.
78. Canacee; not the Canace of the Squieres Tale, whom Chaucer describes as so kind and good as well as beautiful, but Ovid's Canace. The story is told by Gower, Confess. Amantis, book iii. It is difficult to resist the conclusion that Chaucer is here making a direct attack upon Gower, his former friend; probably because Gower had, in some places, imitated the earlier edition of Chaucer's Man of Lawes Tale. This difficult question is fully discussed in vol. iii. pp. 413-7.
81. 'Or else the story of Apollonius of Tyre.' The form Tyro represents the Lat. ablative in 'Apollonius de Tyro.' This story, like that of Canacee (note to l. 78), is told by Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. viii., ed. Pauli, iii. 284; and here again Chaucer seems to reflect upon Gower. The story occurs in the Gesta Romanorum, in which it appears as Tale cliii., being the longest story in the whole collection. It is remarkable as being the only really romantic story extant in an Anglo-Saxon version; see Thorpe's edition of it, London, 1834. It is therefore much older than 1190, the earliest date assigned by Warton. Compare the play of Pericles, Prince of Tyre.