Lydgate's Siege of Thebes

TE:\rPOKARYPREFACE.§ 1. The title of tlie poem. In the colophons of the ^ISS. and'oldest editions we find " Here endetli the destruccioun of Thebes ""Here endeth tlie Sege of Thebes." But in later times the poem hasmost often been spoken of as " The Story of Thebes." In the textLydgate repeatedly refers to "(the) story"; but here, "svith a fewexceptions, by "(the) stoiy " he means liis Old French original. Hi&own poem he generally mentions as "my tale." As a matter of fact,the question of the title has been decided by Lydgate himself, whoinhis Falls of Princes calls our poem "The Sege of Thebes."Al to declare / me seniyth it is no nede,For in the Sege of Thebes ye may RedeThe stoory hool / and maad ther mencyoun, etc.(Mus. Brit. Bibl. Harl. 1766, fol. 49 back.)§ 2. The Siege of Thebes was written by Lydgate to form anadditional link in the famous series of the Canterbury Tales composedby Chaucer. He represents himself as falling in with the pilgrims attheir inn in Canterbury, when in mid-April he comes to the town toperform his vow to St. Thomas for recovery from an illness. He isreceived in the hall of the inn by the host of the Tabard and invitedto join the company of pilgrims in their return journey to London.At sunrise on the following morning they all start off, and before theyhave ridden a bow-shot from Canterbury the host turns to Lydgateand asks him to tell some merry tale.orLydgate obeys, and " My taleI gan anon as ^e shal here" (1. 176). The prologue is, of course,addressed to the readers of the poem.In the tale itself Lydgate tries,by occasional references (11. 182, 322 sq., 1043 sq., 1047 sq., of. also4522 sq.), to keep alive the impression that he is speaking to thepilgrims en ronic.There i.s no doubt that the Prologue was the first portion writtenof the poem. And evidently Lydgate keenly enjoys his idea of composingan additional Canterbury Tale, and thus, as it were, taking upand continuing the unfinished work of his admired master. The8781 ^'0