His problem, however, is not altogether an easy one. The
material which he wishes to utilize is widely scattered and
not everywhere accessible. Much of it he has usually been
obliged to present himself, in the classroom, at the expense
of precious time, which he would greatly prefer to spend
upon discussion and interpretation. Some of it is of such
a nature that it is of very little use to his students, unless
it can be placed under their very eyes, for the closest
study; and too much of it, most unfortunately, has been
presented in such a form that it is either incomprehen-
sible or quite unpalatable to anyone who is not a sturdy
specialist, well inured to controversial literature and lit-
tle daunted by the singular patois which certain scholars
have sometimes felt obliged to use. Foreign languages,
moreover, living, moribund, or dead, obstruct the study
of certain phases of Chaucer's work with difficulties
which it is impossible to require the modern undergradu-
ate to surmount.

This volume has been prepared in the hope that it may
be of service, in making readily available some of the
material which scholarship has contributed to an under-
standing of the poetry of Chaucer. It is no part of its
purpose to offer æsthetic criticism, either at first or sec-
ond hand, since it may be assumed that no one will read
these pages who is not interested in forming judgments
of his own upon the value of Chaucer's works. To pre-
sent information which may be of use in the formation
of such judgments is the sole purpose of this book. It is
designed to give the mature student of Chaucer and his
poetry some knowledge of the world in which the poet
lived, of the way his life shaped itself in that world, of
the language which he spoke and wrote, of the dates,

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