"Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will
exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the
mount of the congregation IN THE SIDES OF THE NORTH."

{49} Alluding to the "Millers Tale," which has rather offended the
Reve, by reason that it ridiculed a worthy carpenter.--R. H. H.

{50} Or thus:-
For when our climbing's done our speech aspires;
E'EN IN OUR ASHES LIVE THEIR WONTED FIRES.
The original lines are:-
"For whanne we may not don than wol we speken,
Yet in our ashen olde is fyre yreken."
The coincidence of the last line with the one quoted from Gray's
Elegy will be remarked. Mr. Tyrwhit says he should certainly have
considered the latter as an "imitation" (of Chaucer), "if Mr. Gray
himself had not referred us to the 169 Sonnet of Petrarch as his
original:-
Ch' i' veggio nel pensier, dolce mio foco,
Fredda una lingua, e duo begli occhi chiusi
Rimaner dopo noi pien' di faville.
The sentiment is different in all three; but the form of expression
here adopted by Gray closely resembles that of the Father of English
Poetry, although in Gray's time it was no doubt far more elegant to
quote Petrarch than Chaucer.--R. H. Horne.



{125} THE GAME OF OMBRE