The Prologue of the Franklin's Tale.
709. Britons, Bretons, inhabitants of Brittany. Observe Chaucer's mention of Armorik or Armorica in l. 729.
As to the existence of early Breton Lays, a fact which Ritson rashly denied in his anxiety to blame Warton (see Ritson, Met. Rom. iii. 332), the reader may consult Price's remarks in the latest edition of Warton, 1871, vol. i. 169-177. It cannot be doubted that the Lais of Marie de France were, in a large measure, founded upon Breton tales which she had heard or found recorded. Sir F. Madden refers us, for further information, to De la Rue's Essais sur les Bardes, &c., iii. 47-100; Robert, Fables Inédites, &c., i. clii-clix.; the Preface to Roman du Rénart; and Costello's Specimens of the Early Poetry of France, 43-49. The Lais of Marie de France were edited by Roquefort, Paris, 1820; and by Warnke, Halle, 1885. See further in vol. iii. p. 480.
721. Pernaso, Parnassus. The form is Parnaso in Anelida, 16, and Ho. of Fame, 521; see also Troilus, iii. 1810, and my note to Anelida, 16. A side-note, in the margin of E., shews that Chaucer is here quoting a part of the first three lines of the Prologus to the Satires of Persius.
'Nec fonte labra prolui caballino,
Neque in bicipiti somniasse Parnasso
Memini, ut repente sic poeta prodirem.'
722. Cithero, Cicero; spelt Scithero in E. Hn., but Cithero in Cp. Pt. Ln. The three latter MSS. stupidly insert ne before Cithero, thus destroying both sense and metre, and tempting Mr. Wright to make the purely gratuitous suggestion, that Chaucer did it on purpose (!), in order to make the Frankeleyn appear really ignorant.
723. I. e. he knows no 'colours' of rhetoric; cf. F. 511.