The book is a very cumbrous one, so that its transmission would be no very easy task; if, however, it should be thought desirable, and the practicability explained, I shall have much pleasure in placing its contents at the disposal of any one engaged in following out the plan proposed.
Allow me to add that, about a mile distant from the quaint and interesting city from whence this "note" is dated (and in which I have resided for some time), we come to the cemetery, a portion of which is allotted to the interment of those English residents, or visitors, who may have terminated their earthly career at this place. Should a copy of the inscriptions in this receptacle (which are numerous) be acceptable, I will endeavour to procure one; but in this case I should be glad to know whether these extracts should be confined to names, dates, and genealogical information only, or include the various tributes of affection or of friendship, by which they are generally accompanied.
M. W. B.
Notes.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHAUCER, NO. IX.
The Astronomical Evidence of the True Date of the Canterbury Pilgrimage.
As a conclusion to my investigation of this subject, I wish to place upon record the astronomical results on which I have relied in the course of my observations; in order that their correctness may be open to challenge, and that each reader may compare the actual phenomena, rigidly ascertained with all the helps that modern science affords, with the several approximations arrived at by Chaucer. And when it is recollected that some at least of the facts recorded by him must have been theoretical—incapable of the test of actual observation—it must be admitted that his near approach to truth is remarkable: not the less so that his ideas on some points were certainly erroneous; as, for example, his adoption, in the Treatise on the Astrolabe, of Ptolemy's determination of the obliquity of the ecliptic in preference to the more correct value assigned to it by the Arabians of the middle ages.
Assuming that the true date intended by Chaucer was Saturday the 18th of April, 1388, the following particulars of that day are those which have reference to his description:—
| H. | M. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Right Ascension | { | Of the Sun at noon - | 2 . | 17·2 | |||
| { | Of the Moon at 4 p. m. | 12 . | 5·7 | ||||
| { | Of the star (δ. Virginis) | 12 . | 25 | ||||
| ° | ′ | ||||||
| North Declination | { | Of the Sun at noon - | 13 . | 47·5 | |||
| { | Of the Moon at 4 p. m. | 4 . | 49·8 | ||||
| { | Of the star (δ. Virginis) | 6 . | 43·3 | ||||
| ° | ′ | ||||||
| Altitude | { | Of the Sun at noon - | 45 . | 15 | |||
| { | Of the Sun at 4 p. m. | 29 . | 15 | ||||
| { | Of the Moon at 4 p. m. | 4 . | 53 | ||||
| { | Of the star at 4 p. m. | 4 . | 20 | ||||
| Azimuth | - | Of the Sun at rising - | 112 . | 30 | |||
| H. | M. | ||||||
| Apparent Time | { | Of the Sun at half Azimuth | 9 . | 17 | a. m. | ||
| { | Of the Sun at altitude 45° | 9 . | 58 | a. m. | |||
| { | Of the Sun at altitude 29° | 4 . | 2 | p. m. | |||
| { | Of apparent entrance of | ||||||
| { | Moon's centre into Libra | 3 . | 45 | a. m. | |||
It will be seen that, if the place here assigned to the moon be correct, Chaucer could not have described it more appropriately than by the phrase "In méné Libra:" providing (of which there can be little doubt) that he used those words as synonymous with "in hedde of Libra." "Hedde of Libra," "hedde of Aries," are expressions constantly used by him to describe the equinoctial points; and the analogy that exists between "head," in the sense head-land or promontory, as, for example, "Orme's Head," "Holyhead," "Lizard Head," and the like; and "menez" in the same sense, need not be further insisted upon. Evidence fully sufficient to justify a much less obvious inference has been already produced, and I am enabled to strengthen it still further by the following reference, for which I am indebted to a private communication from H. B. C.