14 DECEMBER 1889, Page 26

Professor Skeat puts the students of Chaucer under an addi-

tional obligation by giving them an edition of Chaucer's Legend of Good Women (Clarendon Press). It shows all the thorough- ness that characterises his work. The Legend, written in 1385 and left unfinished, possibly owing to the financial troubles of the author, was first printed in 1532. It has been republished from time to time, as in 1878, with Mr. Skeat's own assistance. The text has now been revised with the utmost care, the best MSS. having been collated. (Professor Skeat mentions and defends his principal changes of the commonly received text.) Notes, not too burdensome in bulk, have been added, and there is the necessary addition of a glossarial index.