their composition occupied several years, with inevitable interruptions;
while the gaiety and brightness of many of the stories, and the exuberant
humour and exquisite pathos of others, as well as the masterly
effectiveness of the "Prologue," make it almost certain that these parts
of the work were written when Chaucer was not only capable of doing his
best, but also in a situation which admitted of his doing it. The
supposition is therefore a very probable one, that the main period of
their composition may have extended over the last eleven or twelve years
of his life, and have begun about the time when he was again placed above
want by his appointment to the Clerkship of the Royal Works.

Again, it is virtually certain that the poem of the "Canterbury Tales" was
left in an unfinished and partially unconnected condition, and it is
altogether uncertain whether Chaucer had finally determined upon
maintaining or modifying the scheme originally indicated by him in the
"Prologue." There can accordingly be no necessity for working out a
scheme into which everything that he has left belonging to the "Canterbury
Tales" may most easily and appropriately fit. Yet the labour is by no
means lost of such inquiries as those which have with singular zeal been
prosecuted concerning the several problems that have to be solved before
such a scheme can be completed. Without a review of the evidence it would
however be preposterous to pronounce on the proper answer to be given to
the questions: what were the number of tales and that of tellers
ultimately designed by Chaucer; what was the order in which he intended
the "Tales" actually written by him to stand; and what was the plan of the
journey of his pilgrims, as to the localities of its stages and as to the
time occupied by it--whether one day for the fifty-six miles from London
to Canterbury (which is by no means impossible), or two days (which seems
more likely), or four. The route of the pilgrimage must have been one in
parts of which it is pleasant even now to dally, when the sweet spring