In thus disposing of the authors before Chaucer, no attempt has been made
at a nice subdivision and classification of the character of the works, or
the nature of the periods, further than to trace the onward movement of
the language, in its embryo state, in its birth, and in its rude but
healthy infancy.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAUCER, AND THE EARLY REFORMATION.
A New Era--Chaucer. Italian Influence. Chaucer as a Founder. Earlier
Poems. The Canterbury Tales. Characters. Satire. Presentations of
Woman. The Plan Proposed.
THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA.
And now it is evident, from what has been said, that we stand upon the eve
of a great movement in history and literature. Up to this time everything
had been more or less tentative, experimental, and disconnected, all
tending indeed, but with little unity of action, toward an established
order. It began to be acknowledged that though the clergy might write in
Latin, and Frenchmen in French, the English should "show their fantasyes
in such words as we learneden of our dame's tonge," and it was equally
evident that that English must be cultivated and formed into a fitting
vehicle for vigorous English thought.
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