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Untitled Article
time when they begin to outgrow the bat and spade , he has made provision in the work now before us , the da capo of his juvenile melody ,, in which the e big manly voice' may chant again the notes of its ' childish treble / but with a deeper tone of meaning and a richer swell of harmony .
If Chaucer be the ' well of English undefiled , ' Mr . Clarke ' s book is a famous bucket , and we have to thank him for a delicious draught . His own metaphor in the title reminds us rather of a mine ; in 'The Tales' he has coined the ore into small change for children , but here the senior juveniles are presented with pure and massy ingots , the genuine ' Riches of Chaucer . '
And truly a good work does he perform who induces young folks to read old poets . Statues have been raised for achievements far less honourable or useful . The education is radically defective in which they do not contribute some portion of the
mental discipline . Their absence cannot be atoned for by all the volumes of history and science which the strength of youthful appetite may enable it to digest . They are Professors of Humanity , whose lectures cannot be delivered by proxy . What Burns says of misfortune may be said of their poems , which are a fortune ; c There ' s wit there ye'll get there , Ye'll find na other where '
And of all the great names of our poetical classics , the editor judged wisely to commence with Chaucer . This was to begin with the beginning , not only in the order of time , but in the more important order of the mental impressions which the writings of our most illustrious bard ? are calculated to produce ; and also in the order of the previous attainment which is requisite for a correct
appreciation . Chaucer ' s writings are the basis of English poetry . In them we can best trace the elemental principles of its versification , and of its prevailing modes of thought and feeling . Their broad simplicity is a noble study for the young . The universality of Shakspeare is too much for them in one way , and the learned magnificence of Milton is too much for them in another way .
The full action of each is only upon a matured and accomplished intellect ; and such an intellect is required for their appreciation . Spenser , too , is well postponed to Chaucer . His fascination is of an artificial character . The ' Faery Queen' can only be read by the initiated . It rests on an hypothesis , like the faith in dramatic reality . Until the student has taken one degree , at least , it is a
sealed volume . That degree he may take upon an examination in Chaucer , who writes for the worshippers of the outer court of the Muses' Temple . The literal character of his poetry has boon well commented upon by Hazlitt . It is a word for word translation from the volumes of nature and of the world . They are fairly * done into Knglish . ' He catalogues plants like a botanist ; and narrates events as if he were in a witness-box . And yet the
Untitled Article
The Riches of Chaucer . 70
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1835, page 79, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2641/page/79/
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