And  in  hire  houre,®  he  walketh  forth  a  pas
Unto  the  listes,  ther  hire  temple  was,
And  doun  he  kneleth,  and  with  humble  chere
And  herte  sore,  he  sayde  as  ye  shul  here.
Fayrest  of  fayre,  o  lady  min  Venus,
Daughter  to  Jove,  and  spouse  of  Vulcanus,

1  Improve.  2  Gifts.  8  Palace.
*  Lie.  *  It  was  not  yet  day.
^  And  in  hire  honre.  I  cannot  better  illustrate  Chaucer's  Astrology
than  by  a  quotation  from  the  old  Kalendrier  de  Bergiers^  edit.  1500.
Sign.  K.  ii.  b. : — **  Qui  veult  savoir  comme  bergieis  see  vent  quel  planete
regne  chascune  heure  du  jour  et  de  la  nuit,  doit  savoir  la  planete  da
jour  qui  veult  s'enquerir;  et  la  premiere  heure  temporelle  du  soleil
levant  oe  jour  est  pour  celluy  planete.  la  seconde  heure  est  pour  la
planete  ensuivant.  et  la  tierce  pour  Tantre,  &c,  in  the  following  order :
Tiz.  Saturn,  Jupiter,  Mars,  Sol,  Venus,  Mercury,  Luna.  To  apply  this
doctrine  to  the  present  case.  The  first  hour  of  the  Sunday,  reckoning
fh>m  sunrise,  belonged  to  the  sun,  the  planet  of  the  day ;  the  second
to  Venus,  the  third  to  Mercury,  &c.,  and  continuing  this  method  of
allotment,  we  shall  find  that  the  twenty-second  hour  also  belonged  to
the  Sun.  and  the  twenty-third  to  Venus ;  so  that  the  hour  of  Venus
really  was,  as  Chaucer  says,  two  houres  before  the  sunrise  of  the  fol-
lowing day.
Acoordiugly.  we  are  told  in  ver.  2273,  that  the  third  hour  after


64  THE  CANTEBBUBT  TALES.  S22o-2254

Thou  glader  of  the  mount  of  Citheron.
