The stones of her crown all shining clear.
I will no further speak of this matter.
But thus these false lovers can beguile
Their true love; the devil quite him his while!

Manifestly, then, in this period of his life--if a chronology which is in
a great measure cojectural may be accepted--Chancer had been a busy
worker, and his pen had covered many a page with the results of his rapid
productivity. Perhaps, his "Words unto his own Scrivener," which we may
fairly date about this time, were rather too hard on "Adam." Authors ARE
often hard on persons who have to read their handiwork professionally; but
in the interest of posterity poets may be permitted an execration or two
against whosoever changes their words as well as against whosoever moves
their bones:--

Adam Scrivener, if ever it thee befall
"Boece" or "Troilus" to write anew,
Under thy long locks may'st thou have the scall,
If thou my writing copy not more true!
So oft a day I must thy work renew,
It to correct and eke to rub and scrape;
And all is through thy negligence and rape.

How far the manuscript of the "Canterbury Tales" had already progressed is
uncertain; the "Prologue" to the "Legend of Good Women" mentions the "Love
of Palamon and Arcite"--an earlier version of the "Knight's Tale," if not
identical with it--and a "Life of Saint Cecilia" which is preserved,
apparently without alteration, in the "Second Nun's Tale." Possibly other
stories had been already added to these, and the "Prologue" written--but
this is more than can be asserted with safety. Who shall say whether, if