Beside them is the astrolabe, an instrument
about which he wrote; and trimly arranged apart his
augrim-stones, or counters for making calculations. Such
an outfit we might expect him to have: just such a library,
neither smaller nor larger.
[1] Mun. Acad., ci.
[2] Mun. Acad., lxxvii.
[3] Lyte, 93.
This supposition calls to mind another argument sometimes
used to prove how easy it was to make a small
collection of books. Chaucer's poems display his acquaintance,
more or less thoroughly, with many authors. Surely,
it is urged, his library was a good one for the time: then
how was it possible for a man of his means to own such?
He was not wealthy. As a courtier and a public officer
the calls upon his purse must have been heavy: little indeed
could be left for books. The explanation is probably
simple. Books were freely lent, more freely than
nowadays; and Chaucer would be able to eke out his
library in this way. Another point is important. Professor
Lounsbury, who has spent years in an exhaustive
study of Chaucer, points out a curious circumstance. "It
must be confessed," he says--a shade of disparagement
lurks in the phrase--"it must be confessed that Chaucer's
quotations from writers exhibit a familiarity with prologues
and first books and early chapters which contrasts ominously
with the comparative infrequency with which he makes
citations from the middle and latter parts of most of the
works he mentions.
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