721. How that we baren us. Cp. 11. 87, 796.

726. narette it nat my vileynye. Ne arette, do not account it as my ill-breeding. 'Arette' is also used with a preposition (to or upon) in the sense of impute to. So Wyclif: “It was aretted to him into rightwysnesse" (it was imputed unto him for righteousness), and Caxton: "If they fynde ony faulte to arette it to Socrates and not to me" (New English Dictionary).

729. proprely, with individual correctness, just as each man spoke.

730, 731. Note the uses of 'also,' 'shall,' 'after.'

734. Al speke he: 'he' may refer either to the original speaker or his reporter. The former is the more probable. So in 1. 737, "althogh he were his brother," 'he' is clearly the original speaker, otherwise for 'were' we should have to read 'be,' the past tense being caused by going back in thought to the original speech.

741. Eek Plato seith. As Tyrwhitt noted, this saying is quoted again (H 207-10):

Chaucer, no doubt, took it from Boethius, Bk. III., Prose 12, which he translates, "Thou hast lernyd by the sentence of Plato that the wordis moot nedes be cosynes to the thynges of whiche thei speken." [Boethius alluded to Plato's Timaeus, 29 B: δε ον περ τε εκνος κα περ το παραδεγματος ατς διοριστον ς ρα τος λγους νπρ εσιν ξηγητα τοτων ατν κα συγγενες ντας·]

      whoso that kan hym rede. An allusion to the lack of Greek scholars in England since the death of Robert Grosseteste and Roger Bacon. In Italy Petrarch and Boccaccio were studying Greek when Chaucer was a boy, and the first Greek professorship was founded at Florence in 1396. But it was not till about a century later that the study revived in England.

744. Al have I nat set folk In hir degree: the due order of precedence was very carefully observed in Chaucer's days. Compare what he says of the Wife of Bath, ll. 449-52. Perhaps in his apology, "My wit is short, ye may wel understonde," he is laughing at the importance attached to it.

750. leste, a Kentish form, for Chaucer's more usual 'list.'

751. Oure Hooste: see Introduction.

754. A fairer burgeys is ther noon in Chepe: 'the Chepe,' whose name is preserved in 'Cheapside,' was the great marketplace of London. To understand the full force of the line we must remember that in 1327 the City of London had obtained a charter from Edward III. giving it authority over Southwark, on the ground that the latter was a harbour for rogues. Southwark regained its freedom a few years later and kept it until 1550, when it was once more placed under the City of London. But though it was independent of the city in Chaucer's days it was a very inferior place, and to say of one of its inhabitants that he was as good as any citizen in Cheapside was a high compliment.

761. lordynges, my masters, gentlemen. Used only in addressing a company.

763. if that I shal nat lye: 'if I am to speak truth,' or 'sooth to say.'

767. I am ... bythoght, I have thought of.

772. Te shapen yow to talen and to pleye: you are preparing to tell stories and jest. See Introduction.

777. you liketh alle: ‘liketh' is impersonal, 'you,' dative.

781. Now, by my fader soule, that is deed: 'fader' is here the uninflected genitive, as in B 1178; cp. 'fader kin' (c 3121), 'fader day' (e 1136). Save in such common phrases Chaucer uses ‘faders' or 'fadres,' as in E 809, "Retourneth to your faders hous, quod he."

783. Hoold up youre hond: probably another proverbial phrase, and so influenced by the old plural form 'honde,' cp. B 606, "For which ful ofte he weep and wrong his hond." Chaucer's usual form is 'hondes,' as in G 189, "Urban for joye his hondes gan up holde." But after all 'hond' may here be singular, for each man would only hold up one hand.

784. Oure consell was nat longe for to seche: our resolution did not take long to arrive at. From implying absence, as here, 'to seek' came to suggest non-existence, as in G 874, of success in alchemy, "I warne yow wel, it is to seken ever."

785. Us thoughte it was noght worth to mak it wys: it seemed to us (cp. 682) not worth while to treat the matter seriously. 'Wys,' denotes worldly wisdom, as in the 'war and wys' applied to the Sergeant of Law. For the phrase 'make it wys,' cp. A 3980, "And strange he made it of hir manage," i.e. he was stand-off-like about her marriage, and Boke of Duchesse, 531, "He made it neither tough ne queynte," he was neither obstinate nor affected about it.

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These notes are reproduced verbatim from Alfred W. Pollard, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: The Prologue, London: Macmillan, 1903. The book is in the public domain and available for viewing and download from Google Books. Although the book is old, the notes are enlightening and accurate. Nevertheless, users doing detailed research on aspects of the General Prologue should, if possible, also consult more recent notes in print publications such as The Riverside Chaucer, ed. Larry D. Benson, 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987.