But
Chaucer was likewise an astrologer, as were Virgil, Horace, Persius,
and Manilius. Both writ with wonderful facility and clearness: neither
were great inventors; for Ovid only copied the Grecian fables; and
most of Chaucer's stories were taken from his Italian contemporaries,
or their predecessors. Boccace's _Decameron_ was first published, and
from thence our Englishman has borrowed many of his Canterbury tales;
[Footnote: It is doubtful whether Chaucer had any knowledge of the
_Decameron_.] yet that of Palamon and Arcite was written in all
probability by some Italian wit in a former age, as I shall prove
hereafter. The tale of Grizild was the invention of Petrarch; by him
sent to Boccace, from whom it came to Chaucer. Troilus and Cressida
was also written by a Lombard author [Footnote: Boccaccio himself.],
but much amplified by our English translator, as well as beautified;
the genius of our countrymen in general being rather to improve an
invention than to invent themselves, as is evident not only in our
poetry, but in many of our manufactures.
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