I can myselfe in this case not rede."
Why should I tell more of her complaining?
It is so long it were a heavy thing.
In her Epistle Naso telleth all.
But shortly to the ende tell I shall.
The goddes have her holpen for pity,
And in the sign of Taurus men may see
The stones of her crown all shining clear.
I will no further speak of this matter.
But thus these false lovers can beguile
Their true love; the devil quite him his while!

Manifestly, then, in this period of his life--if a chronology which is
in a great measure cojectural may be accepted--Chancer had been a busy
worker, and his pen had covered many a page with the results of his
rapid productivity. Perhaps, his "Words unto his own Scrivener," which
we may fairly date about this time, were rather too hard on "Adam."
Authors ARE often hard on persons who have to read their handiwork
professionally; but in the interest of posterity poets may be permitted
an execration or two against whosoever changes their words as well as
against whosoever moves their bones:--

Adam Scrivener, if ever it thee befall
"Boece" or "Troilus" to write anew,
Under thy long locks may'st thou have the scall,
If thou my writing copy not more true!
So oft a day I must thy work renew,
It to correct and eke to rub and scrape;
And all is through thy negligence and rape.

How far the manuscript of the "Canterbury Tales" had already progressed
is uncertain; the "Prologue" to the "Legend of Good Women" mentions the
"Love of Palamon and Arcite"--an earlier version of the "Knight's
Tale," if not identical with it--and a "Life of Saint Cecilia" which is
preserved, apparently without alteration, in the "Second Nun's Tale."
Possibly other stories had been already added to these, and the
"Prologue" written--but this is more than can be asserted with safety.
Who shall say whether, if the stream of prosperity had continued to
flow, on which the bark of Chaucer's fortunes had for some years been
borne along, he might not have found leisure and impulse sufficient for
completing his masterpiece, or at all events for advancing it near to
completion? That his powers declined with his years is a conjecture
which it would be difficult to support by satisfactory evidence; though
it seems natural enough to assume that he wrote the best of his
"Canterbury Tales" in his best days. Troubled times we know to have
been in store for him. The reverse in his fortunes may