Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Edited by A. W. Pollard. 2 vols.
(Macmillan and Co.)—Mr. Pollard explains in his introduction the circumstances under which this edition appears. It had been planned on a different scale, and was to have been executed in collaboration with Dr. Furnivall. But when Professor Skeat announced his intention of bringing out the edition which is now in progress, Mr. Pollard made a change in the proportions of his work. The result is this mainly critical edition of the Tales. The introduction gives the history of the text, which seems to have been printed very much at hazard up to the year 1775, when Tyrwhitt brought out his edition. The main authority is the Ellesmere manuscript, but other sources have been laid under contribution. Mr. Pollard gives in footnotes variations from the Ellesmere text. He has marked in the text the " e " termination when it is needed for the scanning, and notes other metrical peculiarities. The literary history of some of the Tales is briefly treated, the editor filling in what Chaucer borrowed and what he invented. The notes are almost entirely critical. A glossary has been added.
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