poet himself, after a stop has been unceremoniously put upon his recital
of the "Ballad of Sir Thopas" by the Host. The ballad itself is a
fragment of straightforward burlesque, which shows that in both the manner
and the metre (Dunbar's burlesque ballad of "Sir Thomas Norray" is in the
same stanza) of ancient romances, literary criticism could even in
Chaucer's days find its opportunities for satire, though it is going
rather far to see in "Sir Thopas" a predecessor of "Don Quixote." The
"Tale of Meliboeus" is probably an English version of a French translation
of Albert of Brescia's famous "Book of Consolation and Counsel," which
comprehends in a slight narrative framework a long discussion between the
unfortunate Meliboeus, whom the wrongs and sufferings inflicted upon him
and his have brought to the verge of despair, and his wise helpmate, Dame
Prudence. By means of a long argumentation propped up by quotations (not
invariably assigned with conscientious accuracy to their actual source)
from "The Book," Seneca, "Tullius," and other authors, she at last
persuades him not only to reconcile himself to his enemies, but to forgive
them, even as he hopes to be forgiven. And thus the Tale well bears out
the truth impressed upon Meliboeus by the following ingeniously combined
quotation:--

And there said once a clerk in two verses: What is better than gold?
Jasper. And what is better than jasper? Wisdom. And what is better than
wisdom? Woman. And what is better than woman? No thing.

Certainly, Chaucer gave proof of consummate tact and taste, as well as of
an unaffected personal modesty, in assigning to himself as one of the
company of pilgrims, instead of a tale bringing him into competition with
the creatures of his own invention, after his mocking ballad has served
its turn, nothing more ambitious than a version of a popular discourse--
half narrative, half homily--in prose. But a question of far greater