made
any particular word, because we do not know enough of the language
which was in use at that time to say so. One famous phrase of Chaucer
is often quoted now: "after the schole of Stratford-atte-Bowe," which
he used in describing the French spoken by one of the Canterbury
Pilgrims in his great poem. He meant that this was not pure French,
but French spoken in the way and with the peculiar accent used at
Stratford (a part of London near Bow Church). We now often use the
phrase to describe any accent which is not perfect.

But though we do not know for certain which words Chaucer introduced,
we do know that this first great English poet must have introduced
many, especially French words; while Wyclif, the first great English
prose writer, who translated part of the Bible from Latin into
English, must also have given us many new words, especially from the
Latin. The English language never changed so much after the time of
Chaucer and Wyclif as it had done before.

The next really great English poet, Edmund Spenser, who wrote his
wonderful poem, "The Faerie Queene," in the days of Queen Elizabeth,
invented a great many new words. Some of these were seldom or never
used afterwards, but some became ordinary English words. Sometimes his
new words were partly formed out of old words which were no longer
used. The word _elfin_, which became quite a common word, seems to
have been invented by Spenser. He called a boasting knight by the name
_Braggadocio_, and we still use the word _braggadocio_ for vain
boasting. A common expression which we often find used in romantic
tales, and especially in the novels of Sir Walter Scott, _derring-do_,
meaning "adventurous action," was first used by Spenser. He, however,
took it from Chaucer, who had used it as a _verb_, speaking of the
_dorring-do_ (or "daring to do") that belonged to a knight. Spenser
made a mistake in thinking Chaucer had used it as a noun, and used it
so himself, making in this way quite a new and very well-sounding
word.

Another word which Spenser made, and which is still sometimes used,
was _fool-happy_; but other words, like _idlesse_, _dreariment_,
_drowsihead_, are hardly seen outside his poetry. One reason for this
is that Spenser was telling stories of quaint and curious things, and
he used quaint and curious words which would not naturally pass into
ordinary language.

The next great name in English literature, and the greatest name of
all, is Shakespear