¹ G. L. Kittredge, Chaucer and his Poetry, p. 189.

² ‘Chaucer's Reeve and Miller,’ Publications of the Modern Language Association, XXXV, 207, Note 53. This is the second of a “series of studies advanced in support of the general thesis that Chaucer, in his choice of physical peculiarities that would fittingly correspond to the characters of his Canterbury Pilgrims, made use of, or at least was influenced by, the rules and regulations laid down in the universally popular physiognomies of his time.” See also ‘The Secret of Chaucer's Pardoner,’ Journal of English and Germanic Philology, XVIII, pp. 593 ff.

³ The Oxford Chaucer, ed. W. W. Skeat, C. T., D, 600 ff. All further references to the text of Chaucer are to this edition.

⁴ Professor Skeat has already given sufficient explanation of the astrological terminology used by Chaucer: vide ‘mansions,’ op. cit., I, 497; III, 348; ‘face,’ V, 372, 395; ‘term,’ V, 395. For his discussion of the conjunction of Venus and Mars in Taurus see his notes on ‘The Compleynt of Mars,’ II, 468; III, 249. See also J. W. Manly, ‘On the Date and Interpretation of Chaucer's Complaint of Mars,’ Harvard Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, V, 107 ff. The other house of Venus is Libra.

^4a That Venus is the dominant star in this nativity is suggested by the power which she wields over the native and by the fact that she is further referred to as ‘my dame.’ And that Venus is situated also in the ascendant sign Taurus—and is therefore in conjunction with Mars—seems certain, because the good Wife has the ‘prente of sëynt Venus seel’ upon her person; Venus in any other than the ascendant sign would be powerless to leave a mark. See the authorities cited in Note 25.

⁵ For the evil influence of Mars, see Skeat, op. cit., V, 80-2, 149; III, 348. Mars's companion in evil is Saturn, Skeat, III, 349; V, 88, etc.

⁶ Chaucer's immense knowledge of astrology has been pointed out by many scholars: Skeat's notes on ‘The Astrolabe’; T. R. Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, II, 395 ff.; Florence M. Grimm, ‘Astrological Lore in Chaucer,‘ Univ. Neb. Stud. in Lang. and Lit., No. 2, 1919; A. E. Brae's Introduction to his edition of The Astrolabe, etc.

⁷ Absolvtissimae Chyromantiae Libri Octo, In quibus quicquid ad chyromantiae, physiognomiae, & naturalis astrologiae perfectionem spectat, continetur, Coloniae Agrippinae, 1563, p. 496. A figure may be found facing the same page. Taisnier is following closely the work of Ioannes Indagine, Introductiones apotelesmatice elegantes, in chyromantiam, physiognomiam, astrologiam naturalem, etc., Lvgdvni, 1556, which see for a like figure and the same interpretation.

⁸ Philippi Finella, De metroposcopia, Antverpiae, 1648, p. 134. I cannot resist the, temptation to give a part of the influence which Taurus exerts upon men: “Cum in ascende(n)te homo signum Tauri possidebit, caput magis rotundum quam longum; eius frons ad magnitudinem potius quam ad paruitatem inclinabit … Nasus aliquantulum latus apertis cum narieibus valdequè latae vt plurimum eius capilli erunt nigri, aut ad nigrum vergent; … bonus erit loquutor in loquendo, & talis erit, minimè non claras reliquens rationes, erit animosus; magis mendacium, quam veritatem celebrabit; superbus, luxuriosus, narratorque fuerit. Illi, ad quos Tauri ascendit signum, valdè loquaces homines sunt, & eorum opinionibus valdè sunt dediti,” ibid., p. 134. Ordinarily the predictions made concerning men may be applied with equal truth to women.

⁹ Erra Pater (pseud.), The Book of Knowledge, Boston, 17, p. 14.

¹⁰ Ioannes Baptista Porta, Coelestis physiognomoniae libri sex, Neapoli, 1603, p. 116. (Compare also Battista della Porta, Delia Celeste Fisonomia, Padoua, 1627.)

¹¹ op. cit., p. 61. To this imposing array of ancient opinion may be added Finella, op. cit., p. 27; Taisnier, op. cit., p. 493; Les Oevvres de M. Iean Belot, Lyon, 1654, p. 235; Rosa Baughan, The Influence of the Stars, London, 1889, p. 26; William Lilly, Christian Astrology, modestly Treated of in three Books, London, 1659, pp. 85, 265; Iean de Indagine, Chiromance & Physiognomie (trans. Antoine de Moulin Masconnois), Lyon, 1549, p. 279; Ioannes Fredericus Helvetius, Amphitheatrum physiognomiae medicum, Heydelbergi, 1660, p. 79, and the same author's Microscopium physiognomiae medicum Amstelodami, 1676, pp. 87-91—all of whom are in more or less amplified agreement with Porta and his authorities.

¹² op. cit., pp. 64-65. Compare also like accounts by Helvetius, Amphith. physiog. med., p. 79; Taisnier, op. cit., p. 493; Lilly, op. cit., pp. 85, 265; Baughn, op. cit., pp. 53, 55; and Finella, op. cit., pp. 27,36.

¹³ Ioannes Fredericus Helvetius, Microscop. physiog. med., pp. 91-95. The quotation is taken from p. 95.

¹⁴ It is a well-known astrological fact that Venus is found only in roots of nativities of phlegmatic natures: “Pour Venus elle ne se trouue qu'en la natiuité des Flegmatique … la fille nèe en cette constellation garde peu son pucelage, s'il se rencontre qu'elle soit camuse, ce qui est le plus souuent,” Les Oeuvres de M. Iean Belot, p. 235. The Wife of Bath is, therefore, of a phlegmatic nature.

¹⁵ Iean de Indagine, op. cit. (trans. Antoine de Moulin Masconnois), p. 279.

¹⁶ It may be of interest to observe how the above conclusions are confirmed and strengthened by reference to the principles of geomancy. Skeat has already explained how fortunes may be determined by the use of geomantic methods (op. cit., V, 82-83; The Academy, March 2, 1889; cf. The Saturday Review, Feb. 16, 1889; it is necessary here only to point out that the figure which he calls Puella (p. 83) and to which he assigns—quite erroneously—the zodiacal sign Libra, is the geomantic. “figure” of the Wife of Bath and corresponds to the sign Taurus. (The other figure of Venus is Amissa, corresponding to the sign Libra, her other house). The following interpretation is given by M. Belot: “Alors qu'il se recontre Puella ou Amissio, qui sont les deux maisons de Venus, l'vne representent Taurus, & l'autre (Libra) au sort des points, ils nous representent l'homme ou la femme Venerienne; s'ils sont nés, ou s'il se recontre Puella ou Taurus en leur ascendant, ils sont d'vne couleur pure, & le corps massif, nitide, beau, pur, net & sans macule, les levres grosses, eminentes, particulierement la superieure; ils sont d'vne stature petite; ils ont la face belle, les cheueux longs, non crespus, blandides, les yeux grands,” op. cit., p. 249. Le Sievre de Pervchio also remarks: “La fille (i. e. Puella) exterieurement, promit du bien, de la ioys, du profit, & de l'honneur; ce n'est pas que la personne soit exempte de luxure, d'inceste, ny de scandale, car méme elle sera sujette aux querelles, & á faire des enemis. Mais elle se plaire d'ailleurs aux saveurs douces, aux odeurs fâcheuses, aux jardins, aux bastimens curieux & portiques … Ses loüables moeurs luy promettent bonne fortune; telle personne estant officieuse, oaisible, plaisante; rusée, pourtant auare, & méme cruelle & impudique,” La Chiromance, la Physionomie, et la Geomance, Paris, 1657. p. 228 (cf. also p. 241).

¹⁷ op. cit., p. 279.

¹⁸ op. cit., p. 233.

¹⁹ Since this article was written I have been able to verify these quotations from Haly. See Albohazen Haly, filii Abenragel Libri de ivdiciis astrorum, Basileae, 1551, pp. 12,170 (Mars), p. 165 (Venus). This is Ali ibn Abi Al-Rajjan an Arabian physician and astrologer of the eleventh century. Porta's citations are correct. He has also been faithful in his copying from Maternus; see Firmicus (Iulius) Maternus, De nativitatibus, Venetiis, 1497, sigs. d₁, f₆.

²⁰ op. cit., p. 147. Cf. also Helvetius, Amphith. physiog. med., pp. 71-87.

²¹ op. cit., p. 615. Cf. also Helvetius, Mocroscop. physiog. med., p. 45.

²² Iean de Indagine, op. cit., p. 278. Compare also the account of M. Belot (op. cit., p. 233), which concludes with the remark that “cette nature est fort vicieuse.”

²³ Guido Bonatus, ‘Choice Aphorismes of Cardan's Seven Segments,‘ in Anima Astrologiae, or a Guide for Astrologers (trans. William Lilly), London, 1683, pp. 9-33, passim.

²⁴ Christian Astrology, p. 595. Cf. also Baughan, op. cit., p. 55.

²⁵ This paragraph is a free translation of the exposition given by M. Belot (op. cit., pp. 219-221) except that I have omitted his irrelevant illustration which takes up the Sun and certain other planets in conjunction in the sign Aries. For further discussion of natural marks and moles see Lilly, op. cit., pp. 149, 155; Le Sievre de Pervchio, op. cit., p. 104; M. H. Cardan, La Metoposcopie, Paris, 1658, p. 220; Richrd Saunders, Physiognomie and Chiromancie, Metoposcopie, Dreams, and the Art of Memory, London, 2nd ed., 1671, Introduction to the section on Physiognomy; M. de Mirbel, Le Palais dv Prince dv Sommeil, ou est enseignée L'Oniromancie, Autrement L'Art de Devinir par les Songes, Lyon, 1670; and my article in Pub. Mod. Lang. Assoc., XXXV, pp. 204 ff.

²⁶ Each sign of the zodiac is divided, for astrological purposes, into three equal parts: from one to ten degrees is called the first face, from ten to twenty the second face, and from twenty to thirty, the third face. Cf. M. Belot, op. cit., p. 221; Skeat, op. cit., V, p. 395.

²⁷ op. cit., p. 221. Cf. also Pervchio's additional information and interpretation: “La teste du Taureau constellation celeste, domine au milieu d'Auril; sa marque est imprimée au col, en forme d'vne tache rouge, denotant la naissance en cette saison la. Elle represente l'homme courageau, honneste, & doüé d'humeur loüable; il est pourtant colere & lascif, ayant bonne couleur, les cheveux longs … Le Coeur de Taureau preside a la fin d'Auril, imprimant sa marque au dessous du col … La queuë du (Taureau) domine au commencement de May, auquel temps naissant ceux qui ont sa marque derriere le col,” op. cit., p. 110; and Baughan, “When Taurus is rising at a birth, the native bears a mark in the front of the throat; sometimes in the form of a raspberry or red-coloured mole, which mark is always ill in its effects,” op. cit., p. 184.

²⁸ op. cit., p. 107.

²⁹ op. cit., p. 225.

³⁰ loc. cit. supra (note 25).

³¹ op. cit., p. 223. Cf. in addition Le Sievre de Pervchio: “Sa marque est en forme de verruë au petit ventre, aux parties honteuses, & sur les reins,” op. cit., p. 106.

³² R. K. Root, The Poetry of Chaucer, p. 231. Cf. Ten Brink, History of English Literature (trans. Robinson), II, p. 126.

³³ W. E. Mead, ‘The Prologue of the Wife of Bath's Tale,‘ Pub. Mod. Lang. Assoc., XVI, 388 ff. It must not be supposed that my theory is presented in opposition to, or with any idea of supplanting, these illuminating studies. One needs to consider all of these influences, traditional, literary, and astrological—together with others if they may be discovered—in interpreting fully the Wife of Bath's complex character.

³⁴ Skeat, C. T., A, 472. The physiognomists are agreed in the significance of large hips. M. Angellus Blondus says, “Verum coxae carnosae, fortis, audentis, atque superbi animi testimonium. … Ac protensa coxendicorum ossa, uirilitatis signum ni mollis caro contingit,” De cognitione hominis per aspectum, Romae, 1544, p. XV; Rudolphus Goclenius agrees: “Coxarum ossa duriter eminentia, & exterius apparentia, virilitatem monstrant,” Physiognomica et chiromantica specialia, Hamburgi, 1661, p. 93. Cf. Porta, De humana physiognomonia, Hanoviae, p. 249; Rases and others in Scriptores physiognomonici, ed. R. Foerster, II, pp. 172, 217, etc.

³⁵ ‘Bold was hir face, and fair, and reed of hewe,‘ says Chaucer (C. T., A, 458), which indicates, as I have already shown (P. M. L. A., XXV, p. 197), — that the man or woman is immodest, loquacious, and given to drunkenness. Cf. Goclenius, op. cit., p. 63; Indagine; op. cit., p. 134; Saunders, op. cit., p. 197, etc. Let no such woman be trusted!

³⁶ C. T., A, 474ff. The Wife's voluptuous and luxurious nature is especially betrayed by her voice. Porta says, “Asperae vocis viros luxuriosos iudicarem, & ad hircos referrem, qui luxuriosi & asperae vocis sunt,” and continues with the following explanation: “Vox ceruis maribus tempus coëundi est, raucescere tunc ficticia voce dicitur…; cum libidinantur mares, feminas ad coitum vocant, siue elato capite gutture plena, siue ad terram demisso. Raucentes tunc ololygones vocantur,” De humana physiog., p. 249. One has suspected for a long time that the Wife of Bath knows only too well how to ‘laughe and carpe’ in fellowship with the most dissolute rakes among the Pilgrims. It is not surprising, therefore, to learn that her physical characteristics and her disposition correspond in a remarkable way with the ‘Signa mulieris calidae & quae libenter coit’ given by the physiognomists. Says Michael Scotus: “Signa aufem calidae mulieris & quae libenter coit sunt ista: Iuuentus; completis annis duodecem; sit ad minus semel corrupta; mammas habens paruas; et illas conueniter plenas & duras …. Cuius pili sunt grossi & asperi …; audax in lingua; in luquendo vox subtilis & alta; in animo superba …; boni coloris in facie; recta in hasta; … ebriosa …; cantat libenter; circuit loca; & delectatur … ornatibus suis, si ea potest habere,” etc., Liber physiognomiae et procreationis, Venezia, 1477, cap. IIII. Cf. also Marc Vulson, Traité de la Physiognomie, Paris, 1660, p. 12; Lilly, op. cit., p. 313.

³⁷ Helvetius has it: “Dentes sunt exiles, acuminati, alabastro aemuli albo, arcté juxta se invicem dispositi in pulchra, sana, corallina-rubra gingiva; duo tamen incisores superiores aliquantum sunt lati & prae aliis elati,” Microscop. physiog. med., p. 89.

³⁸ C. T., A, 468; D, 603. I have accepted, it will be observed, Skeat's rendering (op. cit., V, 44) of the phrase ‘gat-tothed,’ gap-toothed, rather than that of other commentators, namely, goat-toothed, i. e., lascivious, though Skeat's interpretation (loc. cit.) is more interesting than convincing. As to the physiognomical interpretation of ‘gap-toothed,’ there seems to be a division of opinion. Porta is somewhat exercised over the fact that his authorities associate rare—i.e., far apart—teeth with a weak body and a short life, especially so since he finds that many men with rare teeth, Augustus Cæsar for example, have lived to be over seventy years of age and in good health (op. cit., p. 224). He finally comes to the conclusion, however, that earlier writers probably had reference to small, slender, short teeth set far apart; in the case of strong, long, sharp teeth similarly placed, one must give a different interpretation. Now if the. Wife of Bath had been born under the influence of Venus alone with teeth exiles, acuminati (note 37) and far apart, one might have offered the following explanation: “Dentes parui & debiles in opere, & rari & curti, significant hominem debilem, boni ingenij, tenerae capacitatis, mansuetum, legalem, fidelem, secretum, timidum, vitae breuis, & ad vtraque conuenientem,” Taisnier, op. cit., p. 466. Cf. also Scotus, op. cit., cap. LXVIII; Indagine, op. cit., p. 127; Le Sievre de Pervchio, op. cit. p. 152; and Bartholomaeus Cocles, Physiognomiae et chiromantiae compendium, Argentorati, 1533, cap. XV. But since she has come under the strengthening influence of Mars, one may safely accept the following interpretation of ‘gat-tothed:’ “Cuius dentes acuti, longi, rari, & fortes in opere, significant hominem inuidum, impium, gulosum, audacem, falsum, infidelem, & suspisiosum” (Porta, op. cit., p. 225), or perhaps this: “Cuius dentes sunt grossi, & lati, siue declinent foris, siue intus, siue sint rari, siue spissi, significant hominem uanum, lasciuum, grossi nutrimenti, cito credentem, simplicem, fallacem, & mendacem,” Codes, op. cit., cap. XV. Cf. Scotus, op. cit., cap. LXVIII; Taisnier, op. cit., p. 466; Porta, op. cit., p. 225.

³⁹ For a discri minating appreciation of this story vide Lounsbury, op. cit., III, 418; Roo t, op. cit., p. 239.

⁴⁰ op. cit., II, 163.

⁴¹ op. cit., p. 239.

⁴² Cf. Lowes, Modern Philology, XI, p. 391; Emerson, ibid., XVII, p. 287. In my next article I shall show that Chaucer's diagnosis of the Summoner's malady and the prescription which he suggests might be effective in the cure of it are, from the point of view of mediaeval medical men, accurate and correct.