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The Maker of this Book Takes His LeaveNow do I pray all those who hear this little treatise, or read it, . . . if there be anything that displeases them, I pray them, also, that they impute it to the fault of my ignorance and not to my intention, which would fain have better said if I had had knowledge. For our Book says, "All that is written is written for our instruction;" and that was my intention . . . forgive me . . . especially for my translations and the writing of worldly vanities, the which I withdraw in my retractations: as, The Book of Troilus; also The Book of Fame; The Book of the Nineteen Ladies; The Book of the Duchess; The Book of Saint Valentine's Day, Of the Parliament of Birds; The Tales of Canterbury, those that tend toward sin; The Book of the Lion; and many another book, were they in my remembrance; and many a song and many a lecherous lay . . .[Excerpted]
HERE ENDS THE BOOK OF THE TALES OF CANTERBURY, WRITTEN BY GEOFFREY CHAUCER . . .
Adjoined
CLICK on 'Literature' for the references of about 2000 works. ANNOTATIONS: Acronym letters in square brackets in the text refer to works. Click on 'Literature' above for examples. Page references are put right after reference letters. The abbreviation cf. means "compare". [MORE]. SEARCH THE SITE: Click on the rose in the upper left column for site searches, access to dictionaries, and further. REFER to the page by its 'location' address (above). PILOTING: Some pictures and texts on top of the pages are clickable, to ease navigation. [MORE]
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