HERE THE MAKER OF THIS BOOK TAKES HIS LEAVE: Now I beg all those who hear or read this little treatise to thank our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom comes all wit and all goodness, for anything in it which pleases them. And if there is anything which displeases them, I also request them to attribute it to my lack of skill rather than to my evil intention, for I would very gladly have spoken better if I had been able. For our Book says, “All that is written, is written for our instruction,” and that has been my intention. Therefore, I beseech you humbly, for God’s mercy, to pray for me so that Christ will have mercy upon me and excuse my sins, particularly my translations and compositions dealing with worldly vanities, all of which I revoke in my retraction, such as the book of Troilus, also the book of Fame, the book of the Nineteen Ladies, the book of the Duchess, the book for Saint Valentine’s day of the Parliament of Birds, those of the tales of Canterbury which incline toward sin, the book of the Lion, many another book which I cannot remember, and many a song and many a lecherous poem; may Christ in His great mercy forgive me the sin.
But for the translation of Boethius’ Consolation, and for the other books of saints’ legends, of homilies, of morality, and of devotion, I thank our Lord Jesus Christ, His blessed Mother, and all the saints of heaven, begging them that they send me, henceforth to the end of my life, the grace to bewail my sins and to study for the salvation of my soul; and that they grant me the grace of true penitence, confession, and absolution in this present life, through the benign grace of Him who is King of Kings and Priest over all priests, and who redeemed us with the precious blood of His heart, so that I may be one of those who shall be saved at the day of judgment. Qui cum patre et Spiritu Sancto vivit et regnat Deus per omnia secula. Amen.
HERE ENDS THE BOOK OF THE TALES OF CANTERBURY, COMPILED BY GEOFFREY CHAUCER, ON WHOSE SOUL MAY JESUS CHRIST HAVE MERCY.
AMEN.