made the Lady of the Flower her guest:
When lo! a bower ascended on the plain,
With sudden seats adorn'd, and large for either train.
This bower was near my pleasant arbour placed,
That I could hear and see whatever pass'd:
The ladies sat with each a knight between,
Distinguish'd by their colours, white and green;
The vanquish'd party with the victors join'd,
Nor wanted sweet discourse, the banquet of the mind.
Meantime the minstrels play'd on either side,
Vain of their art, and for the mastery vied.
The sweet contention lasted for an hour,
And reach'd my secret arbour from the bower.
The sun was set; and Vesper, to supply
His absent beams, had lighted up the sky:
When Philomel, officious all the day
To sing the service of th' ensuing May,
Fled from her laurel shade, and wing'd her flight
Directly to the queen array'd in white;
And hopping, sat familiar on her hand,
A new musician, and increased the band.
"The goldfinch, who, to shun the scalding heat,
Had changed the medlar for a safer seat,
And hid in bushes 'scaped the bitter shower,
Now perch'd upon the Lady of the Flower;
And either songster holding out their throats,
And folding up their wings, renew'd their notes;
As if all day, preluding to the fight,
They only had rehearsed, to sing by night.
The banquet ended, and the battle done,
They danced by starlight and the friendly moon:
And when they were to part, the laureat queen
Supplied with steeds the lady of the green,
Her and her train conducting on the way,
The moon to follow, and avoid the day."

Whatsoever merit of thought or of poetry may be found in the poems of
which we have spoken, the world has rightly considered the CANTERBURY
TALES as the work by which Chaucer is to be judged. In truth, common
renown forgets all the rest; and it is by the Canterbury Tales only that
he can properly be said to be known to his countrymen. Here it is that he
appears as possessing the versatility of poetical power which ranges from
the sublime, through the romantic and the pathetic, to the rudest
mirth--choosing subjects the most various, and treating all alike
adequately. Here he discovers himself as the shrewd and curious observer,
and close painter of manners. Here he writes as one surveying the world of
man with enlarged and philosophical intuition, weighing good and evil in
even scale. Here, more than in any other, he is master of his matt