N.B. The spellings between marks of parenthesis indicate the pronunciation, according to the scheme given in the Introduction.
References to other lines in the Canterbury Tales are denoted by the Group and line. Thus 'B. 134' means Group B, l. 134, i. e. the first line in the Man of Lawes Tale.
Notes taken from editions by Tyrwhitt, Wright, Bell, and Morris, are usually marked accordingly; sometimes T. denotes Tyrwhitt, and M., Morris.
1. In the Man of Law's Prologue, B. 1-6, there is definite mention of the 18th day of April. The reference is, in that passage, to the second day of the pilgrimage. Consequently, the allusion in ll. 19-23 below is to April 16, and in l. 822 to April 17. The year may be supposed to be 1387 (vol. iii. p. 373).
'When that April, with his sweet showers.' _Aprille_ is here masculine, like Lat. _Aprilis_; cf. l. 5.
_shoures_ (shuu·rez), showers; pl. of _shour_, A.S. _sc[=u]r_ (skuur). The etymology of all words of this character, which are still in use, can be found by looking out the modern form of the word in my Etymological Dictionary. I need not repeat such information here.
_sote_, sweet, is another form of _swete_, which occurs just below in l. 5. The _e_ is not, in this case, the mark of the plural, as the forms _sote_, _swete_ are dissyllabic, and take a final _e_ in the singular also. _Sote_ is a less correct form of _swote_; and the variation between the long _o_ in _swote_ and the long _e_ in _swete_ is due to confusion between the adverbial and adjectival uses. _Swote_ corresponds to A.S. _sw[=o]t_, adv., sweetly, and _swete_ to A.S. _sw[=e]te_, adj., sweet. The latter exhibits mutation of _[=o]_ to _[=e]_; cf. mod. E. _goose_, pl. _geese_ (A.S. _g[=o]s_, pl. _g[=e]s_).
In this Introduction, Chaucer seems to have had in his mind the [2] passage which begins Book IV. of Guido delle Colonne's Historia Troiae, which is as follows:--'Tempus erat quo sol maturans sub obliquo zodiaci circulo cursum suum sub signo iam intrauerat Arietis ... celebratur equinoxium primi veris, tunc cum incipit tempus blandiri mortalibus in aeris serenitate intentis, tunc cum dissolutis ymbribus Zephiri flantes molliciter (_sic_) crispant aquas ... tunc cum ad summitates arborum et ramorum humiditates ex terre gremio examplantes extollunt in eis; quare insultant semina, crescunt segetes, virent prata, variorum colorum floribus illustrata ... tunc cum ornatur terra graminibus, cantant volucres, et in dulcis armonie modulamine citharizant. Tunc quasi medium mensis Aprilis effluxerat'; &c.