, LI'}i'E GEOFFREY. KEjlfOIRS 01' HIS NEAll FRIEND ,,"WD WITH SKET(7HES OPINIONS, NNTS OF ENGLAND IN BY 'VILLIAM . IN FOUR IV. SECOND EDITION. LONDON;· PlIILLIPS, N°. '11, ST. PAUL'S , . . 1804. fodL_:"l .
Life of Geoffrey ChaucerWITH SKET(7HES
OPINIONS, NNTS
OF ENGLAND
. 1804. fodL_:"l .
. CHAUCER in e.-cile.-' His.pec,uniaryem- harrassments.- Returns'
to England. Imprisoned in t';e TUOJer.~surpati~n l!f . '!'ho~as
of. .TYoodstock.-Chaucer is de-. privea,' of his
emplO!Jments..-Sells ",is pen Iwns.-Impeaches Ili;foriner
asso~iates.- . TeStament of' LO'O'e . • ... I
CHAP •. LL
Cltaucer· appoulted clerk 0/ tlte 'Works. John of Gaunt~returns to
England tifter fin absence f!f three !Jears.-~-Oreated duke of
4quitaine.-Chaucer resigns his~o.ffice. find retires to liT
oodstock.-· Conclu8ions rif t~fl Astrolabie.-Breack between
G.haucer lind 'G'()'(I}er.-Canterbury Tales.-Pen- . sian of twenty
pounds per annum " SI
I
CHAP. LU •
Marriage qf John Of Gaunt with Catherine ,. 9wjtiford.~hiJUcer
rem~e8 to .JJonning ton.-Reenga8ed in puhlic afJ"air8.~b .. laiRs
a patent of protection.-Receive8 a
rap. '
CHAP. UII.
- _ A sSa8sination of Thomas of 'YoOd8tock.~ Bani,hment of Henry of
~olinghroke~ Death of John of Gaunt.-lJeposlti()n of ' Richar.d
11.-BeJuroiour of Chaucer ~1I thlll eoent.-:Favoured hy the, nero
80-V8-:
rei:n.-' Remuce8 to London i16
, CHAP. LIV.
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MENTS.-RETURNS TO ENGLAND.-IMPRISONED
PLOYMENTS.-SELLS HIS PENSIONS.-IMPEACHES
AFTER the affair of John of Northampton, CHAr·L.
Chaucer. spent several years in adversity and 1385 • .1 0 . A hO·l
. 1 Chaucer in ulstreSS. s IS eXl e was a vo untary pre- the
Nc-
o h· 0 Id bl therland~. caution on IS part, It wou seem reasona e
to have supposed that it commenced about the time of the arrest of
this popular leader. This however appears not to have been the
case. In the Clause Rolls of Richard II, there is a giant to
Chaucer, dated in the
VOL. IV. B
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LIFE OF CHAUCER.
'CHAr. L. month of November 1384, of leave of ab- 1385. s~nce from
the duties of his office for one
month, on urgent business relative' to his private affairs a: he
was therefore certainly at this time in England. It is difficult to
con ceive what reason he could have found for flight, above nine
months after the arrest of John of Northampton, and three months
subsequently to the trial of that ringleader and the sentence
pronounced against him.
Chaucer is said to have passed first to Hain~ ault, of which his
father-in-law was a native b ;
'and afterward repaired to the province of Zealand, where he seems
to have fixed his
ASliruhis principal residence on this occasion c. Here IClluw,io h
·h al f h h h d eAile. e met Wit sever 0 t e persons W 0 a . '.
been involved with him in the late disturb
ances, and who like him had judged it prudent to seek their safety
in flight. What were the fortune and situation in life of· these
pers0Il:s
• Appendis, No. b Life of Chaucer, prefixed to Urry's Edition. C
Testament of Love, Book I, page 488, col. 1, Urry"
Edition.
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LIFE OF' CHAUCER; , we are not informed: Chaucer however had
CHAP.L;
brought away with him a larg~ supply of lS85~ =f
money than they, or was more successful in obtaining remittances
from home; and, with that liberality which we should expect from
the gentleness and kindness of his temper, was eager to supply
their wants and rdieve their distress d.
These persons, he tells us, were afterward driven out- of Zealand
e. It is not easy to ac count for their expulsion on any other su~
position, than. that they were pursued by the animosity of the
English court, and that' the government of these provinces, by way
of compliment to Richard, refused any longer to shelter them.
Chaucer was not driven . out: he was therefo~e regarded with less
an tipathy by the ministers of Richard. He was not even deprived
of his office of comptroller of the customs; and in the beginning
of the
d Testament of Love, Book I. p. 4.S7. col. 2. • Ditto, page "88,
col. 1, Urry', Edition.
B~
. DigilizedbyGoogle
• LIFE ,OF CHAUCElt..
;HAP.r., year 1385, when it i8 perhaps reasona~ to 1385. suppose
that he 'was already in exile, a patent
was issued in his favour, permitting him to execute its functions
by deputy f. His situ ationwitJt the government of ,his country
,ould not have been very desperate, at a moment when they gran,ted
him an hldulg. ence which he had never, presumed to solicit
Treachery of bi. friends at home.
in the season of ,his ,highest fa~our. -- But" notwithstanding the
comparative fo~ heuance of-~he English government, the em
barrassments which Chaucer suffered werq exceedingly great. The
persons to ~hom 'he intrusted the management of his affairs in ab
.. sence, appear to have been some of those who had been involved
with him in the affair of Northampton; but, instead of proving
faith .. ful to the confidence he reposed in them, they acted, with
the basest treachery, detained from him his income, and let out his
apart ments to hire, without accounting to him for
r Appenrlilr. No.
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UFE OF OHAUCER.
the'rent, with the 'purpose, as he'says, ofCfiAP.L 'musing him to
perish 'for want of nece~ '1585., (
sariesg~ " , . From this statement it appears to funow Is
accom-
panied by that Chaucer took his wife witli him~ if she his
wife.
'were living when he went into exile. Had She remained at home to
superintend his coil;' cerns; it is . not' probable that he could
have ~een exposed to so grea~ misfortunes. Hence. we may infer that
the attachment, which subsisted so long between them even before
marriage, had not subsided. Prudence would have dictated their
separation. But' Chaucer was too deeply pervaded with the human
an~. domestic affections, to be able to consent to such a measure.
He' chose rather to expose' himself to every distress, and to trust
to the Proverbially uncertain tenure of friendship in adversity,
than to tear himself from his ae~rest connections h.
.. • Testament of I,ove, Book I, page 488, col. 1. b Rymer has
preserved, in his manuscript conecti~n, a
receipt, signed hy Chaucer, of half a year's pension to him self,
and half a year's ~o Philippa his wife, a copy of which is inserted
in the Appendi~ to this volume. Taking this as
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1385. HI. reo.
fa:rrnily of Chaocer, 2bO·
names have come down to us, consisted of two. sons: Thomas,
afterward speaker of the
of z2bOminz.ons and Lewis, whom has addreSsed his Conclusions of
the Astra- labie. The age of Thomas, at the period of
f:z.w.hec? 2b was thi2b2beeo ; . :Lewis was in his fourth year.
Whether he
my guide, I entertained a very sanguine hope of· obtaining an eeect
account the date, of thc ,zomrGenCeZririlt aed elbse Df Chaucer's
matrimonial life. 'Could the series of these receipts
the'44' datD? might with dreat probahility inferffF from the period
at which the receipts given by Chaucer in P,half his and finishnh.
was con ferred upon her, in consideration of her having been maid
of honour the qneen of Ezhznnrd W444 thef,:nore pro bably an
unmarried woman at the time it was granted, was in
of at thz: of hrr mw·ziagz, zmd eontinnd
to receive it till her death. It is not unlikely that the whole
enz·ies thesD is rtill in existtnee; I hnne beefZ unsuccessful in
my endeavour to discover where they are de-
l applied to the in Temple, tp the Office of the Clerk of the Pells
in Westmin- stet-Hall, and thn Recnd-Officn in the Westminster
Ab~y. From all the persons to whom I applied
I nxpez·icnced the but concurred in the most positive assurances
that no such records
in thejr
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LIFE OF CHAUCER. 1
was accompanied by both of them in his flight CHAP. L.
is.uncertain; it is probable that, if the. wife 188S~
of Chaucer attended him, they also took with them their youngest
son. Chaucer, as we have. seen, was desirous to effect what is pro·
verbiallycalled the raising a family; that .is, to place his
posterity in such a manner with respect to fortune and station, as
to produce a sort of probability that their descendants for several
generations. would rankamoog' the more eminent members of the
commonwealth of England. We. may th~refore belie.ve that one of the
anxieties he suffered in his. ad versity; arose from the
miscarriage he seemed destined to suffer in this favourite
scheme.
Thomas Chaucer was· at this time thir.teen years of age. We may
draw some conclusion as to. his talents and the respectability. of
his
, character J from the high station of 'speaker which ~e occupied
in successive parliaments, from his having married into an eminent
and opulent family, and fr~m his leaving a pos· terity by his only
daughter, who had a very near prospect of ascending the throne. He
could not have had a character which natur"'l
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, LIFE OF CHAUCER..
CHAP.L. ally led' to these honours, without poueasing 1386.
qualities at the age' of thirteen, which, to an
eye so practised and discerning u that of the poet, m,ust have led
to great expectations and fond visions of what the boy might one
day prove. We may believe that he was carefully educated, for we
know that his - brother was so educated: and, perhaps the:
',age at which young Chal:1cer had npw ar. rived is one of the most
interesting periods. of hu~an life. ' It is an epoch when so much
of understanding, adventure, imagination, perseverance and
integrity' may have mani fested themselves, as no longer to expose
tho fond father to an alarm lest all his hopes of his darling child
may be mere phantoms of the brain; at the same time that, the
destin.-: ation of the child being not yet unfolded, the father has
roo~ to amuse himself with a thousana varying pictures of
greatness~ tale~t8 and worth, , and at the close of his reverie to
pronounce with complacency i One of these shall my son assuredly be
I What was the fortune of the younger son of Chaucer, or even
whether he ev~ arrived at manhood, is
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r.1FB OF CHAUCER. 9
unkbown:. :we have' only his' father's tes- CHAP, L; timoily to the
ripeness of his intellect, as l.385.
well as 'to the ardour; of his own paternal affection, iIi the
circuinstance of his having addressed atreatiae' 6£ aStronomy to
this son a~ the age of ten years~ We may believe then that, when
Chaucer viewed the enterprising· youth of thirteen, and the
helpless' child of fOlir, he pronounced to himself, that scarcely
any question "'of party, any course to. be steeted in the doubtful.
and uncharted sea .of politics, could justify him' in having
risqued the consigning these children to obscurity, and exposing
them to all· the temptations,
- £ontumelies and intellect~al famine of a paor estate.
Chaucer's . residence in, the . Netherlands· His emblll'_
proved to him a continual source of anxiety. His resources failed:
his friends not only deserted, but 'added to that baseness the
guilt of robbing, him. By every favourable wind he expected
supplies from England; but every wind brought ~im nothing but.
disap pointment. Perhaps he expected a more kind and' hospitable
reception from his wife's re ..
ras.menu.
10 .LlFE OF CHAUCER.
CHAP. L. lations than. they eXtended to him.: ' Perhaps .13~S. he
had that high' spirit, which is found ex~
tremely congenial to an enlarged mind, that prompted him· to refuse
obligations.' 'It' is very probable that in Hainault he. found re~
lations of his wife, who were in a capacity to afford him
pecuniary'. assistance. The 'reigning sovereign of the country,
Albert, duke of Bavaria, and earl of Holland, Rain .. ault and
Zealand, was brother of'the prince 'who had married Matilda of
Lancaster, sister to Blanche; and it is likely that this sove
reign would not have permitted the poet- to suffer any extreme
distress. But Chaucer. who had for' many years lived a life of opu
lence and filled situations of eminence in his own country, could'
not perhaps' brook the idea of receiving a precarious and
eleemo-
, synary subsistence in a' foreign land. In :fine he resolved,
rather than languish in exile and beggary, to return home, and
submit his life, if necessary, to the laws and lawyers of his
country.
Chaucer had. till now, been a stranger to misfortune. We have seen
reason to believe
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LIFE OF CHAUCER. II
;that he was the son, perhaps the only so~ CHAP. L
,of an, opulent tradesman. He received a 13&\.
4istinguished 'and· expensive education; and ,tried his fortune in
what men have agreed ,to call th:e honourable profession, of the
law. ,He had scarcely entered, this career, when .he was
:withdrawn. from it by the invitation of Edward III. He was
domiciliated under \
,the wing of the palace; he was employed to form the mind of a
prince possessing a thou sand advantages from nature and fortune,
,wp.o prov:ed to him a constant friend, and ~was perpetually
loading him with benefits and favour ~ He was essentially the court
poet withou~ the formality of the name; and if we, at this distance
of ti,ne, through the veil of a language to us obsolete and semi
"arb~ous, and with poets who have improved uppn . t.he
ha~f-assured. essays of Chaucer in the degree that Spenser· and
Shakespear and Iv.7;ilton have done, cannot read his compo ~itions
without confessing the great and the genuiil~ poet, it is easy to
imagine what must ~ave been the idola~ry of his contempor~es, when
his works were brought into notice
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CHAP. I.. by the sunshine of royal favour, when ~is •
lSSS. language was perfection and grace, and when',
His retired and de- Ititure situation.
fram the rarity of the spectacle, a poet, was regarded as more than
man, and such' pro;,. ductions as those of Chaucer were deei'hec!
the perfection, the Hercules' Pillars, of human genius. Encouraged,
though not rendered ca pricious and insolent; by these advantages~
Chaucer gave the reins to his incHnatio~J 6tudied no rigid maxims
of economy, and in .. - dulged with no less freedom and
unconstraint the costly pleasures of the table and. of 'an elegant
style of life, than the more genuine and simple delights of study,
or of a solitary and romantic excursion among woods a~d hills and
streams.
~ It must therefore have been a bitter trial that Chaucer sustained
in the period of his exile. He was poor; deserted by his old
friends, :who cruelly.took advantage of his absence to oppress and
destroy him; with no admirers, no hospitable greeting, p~haps not
one sympa.thising sentiment bey-ond th~ bo- 80m ,of. his own
family: and this ~o. him, who had been surrounded with
flatterers,
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LIFE OF CHAUCiR... u whose name the voice of eulogium had dwelt
CHAP L
. upon till the very echo was tired" with repe~ la&S. '
tition, whose visits had made" a holiday; and whose presence had
been every where cheered with welcome. Chaucer did not, like
Milton, when he travelled into foreign parts, present the
inhahitants' of the different countries he visited with specimens
of his 'genius in the language most f.amiliar to those inhabitants.
In this one respect at least he was prouder than his sublime
successor. He knew that the delicate anti disc~minating
cultivatioll of ()ne language is a task mighty enough for one
genius. He disdained to prattle in a foreign
'tongue~ " of whiche," as he says, " English men have as gode a
fantasye, as the Jay whan he chatereth Englishe h;" and he good-hu
mouredly laughed at the attempts of his friend Gower in this kind.
The consequence how ever was, that, when he came into the Ne
therlands, he came among a "people who had no preconceived
consciousness of his merit,
, Testament of Love. Prologue.
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LIFE OF CHAUCER~
CHAP.L. and who, as, to the 'power of relishing wliat 138./). he
had produced, were not less barbarous than
Ovid had found the borderers upon the Erix ine sea.
. lSR6. acturns to
b&laod.
Chaucer returned to England, full of in dignation against the
persons to whom he had confided his affairs in his absence. They
were some of those who had been eJ;lgaged with him in the affair of
John of North": ampton r for, when he gives vent to his re";
sentment against them, he at the same tillie expresses his sorrow
for the part he had taken iQ.· city-politics~ from a conviction
that, whatever were the merits of the cause in which he had been
engaged, the persons with whom he had acted were, many of them,
such as it was no way honouraole to him to have been connected
with. He there fore came back to his native soil, anxious to
withdraw from the 'cares and turmoils of political contention ;.
and, though willing, as we may suppose, to make every exertion that
gratitude or friendship could demand for the service of John of
Gaunt, yet resolved not again to volunteer in the struggles of
op-
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posing parties, nor hastily to believe, because CHAP. L.
a cause was good, ~d the end in view was 1386.
honourable, that the persons engaged in that cau.se were
pubUc-spiritedf and would disin~ ~~rest~ly and honestly cooperate
in the mea~ 81JreS necessary to secure its success. He ther~fore
hoped, divorced as he was from· his former associates by th~·
treachery of their conduct, that he sh~uld be suffered to remain
pbscure and unmolested in the bosom of his country_
In this however he had been too sanguine. Imprisoned in the
What were the motives of the ministers of Towcc.
Rich~d for taking him into custody is doubt- ful. According to his
own account, they were desirous of extorting from him some
confession as to his confederates. Satisfied, as they were, of the
innocence and honour of the king of Castille, they perhaps
hoped
. to g~ther from Chaucer something that might pe tortured into an
accusation against his patron, and might enable them to revive and
eke out their infamous prosecution of this virtuous prince. Chaucer
had scarcely arrived in England, before he was arrested by an
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- CHAP. L. order from the court, and committed prisoDer.
13~)li. as is supposed, to the Tower. Examined ,The first
indication which can· be traced
as a wit- lIess in of Chaucer being again in England, occurs the
court-
~tuy. in the month of Oc-tol>er 1386. It was at this period that
lie gave th~ testimony to· which we have already bad occasion to·
refer, in the remarkable cause Qf &roop and· Gr~ venor, at the
church of St. Margaret, West minster i. Supposing therefore that
he made use of his leave of absence, granted in No ~ember 13S·!,
to retire to the continent, his exile l:ontinued for nearly two
years. If this were not the date of his flight, it must have taken
place later, and of course· have COft ..
tinued for a shorter period. . From these pre mises it seems to
fellow that he was brought up from the Tower to give his testimony
iIi this cause, by an order· fr~m the court .. · military, who must
be supposed to have been furnished with .sufficient· powers for
that purpose.
.1 Vol. I. Appendix. No.1,,·
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. It must also have been' duriqg his . impri_CHAl»' L.
sonm~t in the. Tower, that he _was deprived 1386 •.
IaltTip~cl
of the two offices, which he had now held of ~~c for yeal"s~ and,
which, as he informs us, he' ~cca. had always executed with 'the
highest honour. and the' strictest integrityj, of comptroller ot
the customs in' the port· of London, and' comptroller of the small
customs. In De .. '
. cetnber of this year Adam Yerdeley was ~p-' pointed to tbe,
first" of these situations k, and Henry 'Gisors to .the' second 1,
in the very
, terms of the patents by which they had fermerly been conferred
upon Chaucer~ , \ ,The ,date of this dismission of Chaucer by
ThOlllll
• • ofWoocI.
&om the' places of, consideration and profit arock, . duke
of
which! he .had held for so long a thue is G~ ter.
entitled'to, 'notice. Thomas of Woodstock, makinguse.of the
parliament ~ his instru': g1ent, sup' erseded the. royal authority·
in Oc. SUipensicm.
of the
tober.;.. . and vested the whole functions of the l'O}'al .. .
thurlty.
government in the hands of fourteen persona·
j Testament. of Love, B001t II, p. 502, col. 1.
t Dec. 4. Pat. 10 Ric. 2, p. I, m. 9. I Dec. 14. Ditto, .m"4.
VOL. IV. c
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l' CMAP.1. oominateci for that purpose ID. Two months
1536. aft~r' this extraordinary .treteb' of .power, Chaucer was
reduced to a pri'nte Itation. It waS against t~e administration of,
the king that he had struggled in 1 a 84; it was by: them that he
was driven into exile, and that. having chosen to return to his'
native coun try, he was committed 'to the Tower. Yet they treated
hili! with the veneration due to his unrivalled genius, and never
proceeded to extremities against him. When he was most exposed to
the displeasure of th'e cro~ they had the liberality to grant him
per; mission to execute that office by . deputy, which he was no
longer able to exeCute in
," person. It was reserved for Thomas of Woodstock, the patr~n of
Gower,. arid wh. 1Ia.d 80 lately· shown himself the oy,ehemimt and
intemperate partisan of John of Gauat, bllt in whom ambition
finally 8wallowt:d Up every other sentiment, while he commued
Chaucer's 'confinement in the Tower, to de-
• Knighton,. ac1 aDD.
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petence and lubsistence. 1886.
It is . necessary however tbat we should 00... Chronolvgy
ofCbau-
serve that we have" circumstantial evidence cer'sexile - .
andim_
alone of Chaucerhavirtg been concerned' in prison- mcnt.
die proceedings of John of Northampton. {- was very desirous. of,
finding the copy of the wartant' committing Chaucer to prison) and
for that·purpose searched the Clall&e Rolli of the .eighth,
ninth, tenth,eleventh and twelfth year. of Richard II, in other
word8, . of the period from the twenty-first of June 1884
co tho twenty .. first of June lSS.g, but with.; out SUCCei8. This
warrant, if discovered; would probably have afforded suBicient ma
.. terials of deciding . respecting the cause, as
well as the period, of Chaucer's imprison ment . . But, without
this voucher, the story seems
to be attended with sufficient evidence. Chaucer's exile, return,
and imprisonment in the-Tower, rest upon his own authori~y, but are
unaccompanied with dates. The 'cause of his misfortunes he thua
describes.
C2
iO LIFE OF CHAUCER.
CHAP. L." In my youth I w~s dtawe to be assentaunt:: 1386.. and in
my mightes helping to certaine D con ... ;
juracions and other grete matters ~f rulynge of citezins; and 0
thylke thinges ben my drawers< in· and exitours to tho matters,
weme Sel
painted and coloQred, that, ~. the prime face, P me seemed them
noble and. glorious ~o al the peplel I than, Cl wenynge mykell
~erite have. d~rved .in furthering and maintenaunce of tho thinges,
r besyed and laboured with all my diligence, in werking of thilke
matten to the en~e. And trewly, to tell you th~ • sothe, t me
rought lytell of an,. hate of the ~ mighty senatours in thilke
cite, ne 9f U com.~
munes malice, for two -:' skilles: one w~ ..
• confederacies. I
o the motiYeS which drew me ill' and excited InC. to the • of
•
measures· I pursued, were 80 coloured by the persona whose leading
I fol1owed~ . "-
J> they appeared to me. '1 believing that I should deserve well
of the public •
• r busied myself. . ·0 sooth. t I took little account.
" the magistrates. a the common people. -
~ ~eaaon~ SAX.
LIFE OF CHAUCER. ~l
I II had .eomforte to ben in soche plite; that CHAP. L.
both profite were to me and to my frendes ; 1386~ .. another . wal,
., for commen profite iti. co-
JJlunaltie is not, but peee and tranquilite with justgovernaunce
proceden from thilke pro lite; Z sitheII me thought the a first
painted tbinges, malice and evyll meninge, with-·
"outen any gode b availinge to anye pq;le, and of tyrannye purpOsed
1:."
Chaucer then states the pretences' and modes of reasoning brought
forward by the party he embraced. "The thinges whiche, quod they,
ben for commune avauntage,. maye not stand, d but we ben"
executours of
" saw myself to be in such circumstances, as enabled me to ~ of
service both to myself and my friends. "
-I a belief that the social state produces no general advan-
tage, unless it is attended with peace and tranquillity. and a just
and impartial government.
• besides. moreover. • the things varnished and glossed O\'er to
sight by the royal
~y. tohav~bee~ • .. de~ding, following.
".D Testament of Love, :Qook I, p. ~J cc;ll. i.
• ijlllc~.
~ OF CHAUCER.
CJfAP.L. tho matters, and auctorite of aecaciOD by. 13~ Ceomen
election to us:be ddyvered; and that·
maste enter by strength' of f.your 'jmam.. ~unce; for, we out of
80ch degas put, oppresaiDn of these olde hindren lhat agame g
aUl'lliounten, andputten·you in loebe sub. jecticm that in endlel8e
• wo ye. Ibul· :com. plaine. The governementes, quod thei, of your
cite, left in the handel of h tarcencioUi. citeziris, &hal
bring in pestilence and' de struccion to you gode menne; and
therfine let U8 have the comune. administration. to
abatesoche yveUes. There ben citem many, for iferde of execucion
that shall be done fOr extorcions by hem committed" ~en evermore
ayenst these purposes and al other gode men .. inges j." He adds, "
And so, when it fell that fre eleecion by grete damour of.k moche
peple [who], for grete disese of misgovern ..
e common. r the citizens'.
• come up, arise. Ii uSluious.' uling extort,ion. Speght. I fear. .
i p. 4086. col. 2. It the cc:>urt par.ly.
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LIFE OF CHAUC!R.
aunte, .0 fervently 1 stoden in ther t eltcdon eRAP. t. that they
hem submitted to every m Il).~er 1386.
face, rather than have suf&red the maner anel the rule of the n
hated governours (notwith. etandyng that in the contrary heIden
moch comune 0 meiny, that have no consideracion but onelye to
voluntary .Justes without¢a reSOD), than thilke governour so
forsaken. P faininge tofome his undoinge for misrule Ua his time, q
shope to have letted thilke elec .. cion, a~d have· made a newe him
safe to
have bene chosen, and r under that mokyl ,.ore arerecl'."
This description coincide. in so many particulars With Walsingham'.
account of abe proceedings of J obn of Northampton, that it is
almost impoasible to doubt that th. were ~ proceedings in which the
poet
• stood, persisted. .. imaginable disadvantage.
• tbe po~at party. 0 folIowenI aIIherentl. F •• • con~iving
beforehand, anticipating. • put1lClII!d to bave hindered.
r under that pretence raised a ~t "proar and commotion,
, p. +86, - j.
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LIFE OF CHAUCER. .
CHAP. L. found himself so deeply entangled. If Chau~ • JasQ. eer
describes the measures adoPte~ by ~the
popular party less favourably than we should . expect from a
confederate, or tItan· the ;mea"
sures probably deserved, it should be . eon ... sidered that, in
the work f~om·which the' above extracts are taken, one of his
objecti is to deliver his recantation, and reConcile himself with
the government he had offend. ed. Elsewhere he says of himself in
the course of the work, ,~ Thy worldly godes ben t fulliche:
dispe.nte, and thou berafte out of dignitie of office Y." This
proves to a ~ertainty, that the composition was not writ ten till
after the close of the year ] 386.
•
, p. 4090, col.!l.
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LIFE OF CHAUCER.
'l'ht SaD1e hand which gave away the em- CH.\r. ~. ployments of the
poet, had annihilated the '1886.
royal ~uthority, and reduced the king to a 'apher,. Richard did not
f:emain supine under ---''_ the indignities which were heaped upon
him. 1881.
,Under pretence of escorting his favourite Vere, ,who, it had been
agreed upon with the usurper, was to be sent, into a sort 'Of
Jtonourable exile in Ireland, he left the me tropolis, and,'
journeyed into Wales "; but, having remaine~ some time there, he
turned ,back, and, with Vere, De la Pole, Tresllian' and others,
held a council at Nottingham Auau1t 21.
respecting th~ best means to be, employed for-resuming the royal
authority.... The com;.. Jpissioners whono~ possessed the govern-
ment of the realm, were alarmed at the in telligence of what was
going forward;-and with great art and a. thousand specious
in-
,&inuations, induced Richard to return to the ~~ppolis VI. N~
measure could have been more fatal to hi$. interests. From the
moment NO¥eftl-- ~~
• W alsingha~. act afln. ., ,Knight98, ad ann,
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LIFE OF CHAUCD.
~HAP. L in which . he acceded to this propoea1, he lao7. became
virtually a prisoner. The inexorable
Woodatock proceeded without mercy to the destruction of u many of
the advisers ~ Creatures of the court, as he could get intb
1388. his power. He called together a parliamant; February. and, as
the auembly of that 80rt which
stained the annals of the last reign was sur ... Damed the Good
Parliament, so this, equally a favourite with the bli~d and
undistinguiab ing vulgar, gained the appellation of the
Wdnder-working Parliament:':. One da" they sent sir Robert
Tresilian and sir Ni dwlaa Brembar to the' gallows; and another,
they passed sentence of death upon six of the judges '. Previously
to thia ceremony, these magistrates were publicly dragged from
their aeata in Westminster Hall, and com mitted to the Tower '.
TJte pretext of their condemnation was the opinion they had sign
ed at Nottingham, declaring the commission, which had deprived
Ridmd f)f the' govern ..
. 11 SlOW} 8d aft ••
m.ent and vested the royal authority in a CHAP L.
council of fourteen persons, to be contrary 1 S88.
to the law and constitution of England. Their sentente was
afterward commuted into ba- . alshment for life. The lawyer who
officially drew up the paper which they 'were arraigned for
signing, was also condemned, and exe- 'cuted z.Sir Simon Burley and
three other perIODS of great distinction about the court \ were the
next victim.s; and Woodstock i. said to have permitted the queen to
remain three bours on her knees before him~ in treating in· vain
for the life of this accom. pUshed courtier·.
During these scenes of tumult and con- Situation of . J:..A:__ Cha
• d .. • h Chaucer' "WIMIU ucerremalOe'a prISOner, 10 t e in
thia
-untre of all the violences that 'were com- period.
aitting, and unable either to act or to escape. It isprobahle that,
in·· this fierce' contention aa to who 'Should be master of the
kingdo~t -be was' considered as a -person of inferior
• -Pal'liameataty History of England, ad aDll.
• Hume. ad ann. .
LIFE OF CHAuCER'-
CHAPo L. consequence, and obliged to yield his apart ... J 1888.
ments to some statesman of loftier title who'
was a few days after conducted to the scaffold: He could not feel
much ~t e~~e in the Cir ... · climstances in which he was . placed;
and perhaps scarcely knew whether his personal' safety would best
be promoted by the conoi
tinuance of the us:urpatlon:, or by the restor"; ation of the royal
authority. He had been an officer of the goverllment; he had been
favoured and distinguished by Anne of B~' beinja; and it might be
.doubted whether the' stern and savage Woodstock, who had
'already stripped him of his employments;· would not °find a time
to proceed to the iast extremities against him. On the other hand:
if the king were restored, the prospects of
. C4aucer would not be much improved. It _as the king and his
ministers that he had ofFen4ed; it was the king who had driven him
into· exile, and who, when he privately returned, consigned him as
a state-prisoner to the Tower. He had therefore little to hope,
ando~pmething to fear,·tro~ ~he ~vi"al pf the royal
authority.
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LIFE OF CHAUCER.
the ease· and opulen~e he had fQrmerly en- 1383.
jQyed. "I, that some tyme in delicious houres was wont to enjoy
blisful ll stoundes, am now dryve by unhappy C hevinesse to
J?ewaile my sondrie d yve)s in e tene.-Thus, f, witlesse,
thoughtfull, I sightlesse lokynge, I e»:dure my penaunc~ in this
derke prisonne~ ~caitiJrned· fro frendshippe and
acquaintaunces
arid. forsa~en o~ al that any worde dar~
speke i." And ~gain, -" Although I hadde Iyttell, in j respecte
amonge other grete and ~orthy~ yet had I a faire kparcel, as mo
thought for. the tyme, . in 1 fortherirtg of my 8~stenaunce.~I had
riche.sse suffisauntly to
. m weive riede; I had dignite to be reverenced . in worship. Powtr
.me thought that I had to
. kepe fro. min enemies; and me semed. to thine in glory of
renome.-Every of tho. joyes is. turn,ed into his contra,ry : . for
richesse,
.. &eaIOns. C adversity. devils. e sorrow. r· void of
foresight. I looking at a blank. b -.:aptived.
I T~tameD~ ~f Love, B~k I, init. j comparison. " portion. I
furthering, proc;ur~g, • wa-v:c, ~rc;v.nt.
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so LD'I or CHAtTCElt.
\
I sulFre ; and, for glory of renome, I am now dispised and n
foulicbe hated G."
Sells ~is Nor in these complaints was the poet guilty
peOSl9llS•
of any exaggeration. We have' seen that, early in his imprisonment,
. he was stripped, by the prevailing party, of the official ap
pointments which had' supplied the principal part of his income. In
May 1388, we agaDs find him obtaining a patent P, permitting him to
resign the two pensions of twenty marks each, which '.Vere all
,that now remained to him of the bounty of the crOWD, and which
were now probably exehanged for the money demanded by the urgent
and immediate wants of himself and his family. .
It is in adversity,. more than on any othci 1389.. d . ed •
His emp!oy- occaSIOn, that a well-or er mInd reaps t. ~ri:'ID t~e
full. the pre-acquired advantages of lit~t~
ature, ,cultivation and reflection. The muse,
•
• foully. • 0 Book II, p. 501, col. I. , Appendix, No. XVlIJ~
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-the mUle that had won the, ear of his CRAP.L.
, former sovereigns, aI).d that had been the 1389-
primary cause of hi.s fortune during life, as well as of his
lasting fame,-accompanied. Chaucer to the gloomy and dreary walls
in which he was now shut up. Cast down among common men, he yet did
not feel like a common man. In this uncertainty, humili. ation and
solitude, he recollected his former pursUits,' the cherished
visions of his happier clay., and became again an author. It is
likely that he' was forbidden the visits of his friends J but by
the magic p~wer of fancy he call8d about him celestial visitants.
It is likely that a jailor or a turnkey was planted in his
apartment, under pretence of checking unli.. . cenaed attempts at
correspondence or escape, but in reality serving only to exclude
him ftom one of the best inheritances of man,the power of being
alone in the silence of ele· ' lDemlal nature and with his own
thought&. Clia~erh()wever, assisted by the workings of'his
mind, instead of seeing continually the bate· groGID who attended
hini, saw only the
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CHAP. L. Gods who prOtected and cheered him. ~ iD~
1889. his celL . T:~a.::~ Chaucer in his youth -had translated Boe-
.
thius .. The best work of Boethitis, that which . Chaucer had put
into English, was composed by the Roman while he was a
state-prisoner· under the reign of Theodoric king of the: Goths. In
the prison in .which he was im .. · mured, Boethius, soon after
he-had. finished, the work, was murdered by order of the~ tyrant. .
Chaucer, in' the gloomy reveries .0£ his fancy, reaped. a certain
plea8W'c in ima" giuing a. parallel between himself and the:
~irtuous Boethius. Boethius was accused of having been concerned'
in certain attempts- for the liberties of Rome: Chaucer had also
of fended the dishonest government of England by attempts for the
liberties of his native. city. Boethius has been applauded by aU
succeed:;. ing times as the last citizen of Rome _ wh~ :was worthy
of the name of a. ROlJ\an t
Chaucer also hoped that he should be re membered as the strenuous
adversary of that .profligate a.dministration of Richard II,.
who.
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I:.IFE OF CHAUCER;.
by to.emeaaures'il1lQ which 'they,had enter •• CHAP.L.
prepal"ed.the tragical ca~~Q'ophe whi~h_ oY~r- ~30~:! took
:,th~irmast~r_at ·th:ej~~~ure: ag~ ,of thirty~two~i.
,_BoethjQs\JI\i~,ed.in hi~ pwn pqr~ son 'the :cbjlracters, Qf.th~
patriot, thcr poet, jn.d the Brill. and ,p1;lilosophi~al mimi,
s9P-~riOZ: to . e,vents ; "an~ Chaucer, in the,aqver~ity
which overclou<Jed him, nat\lrally,wishe4 that hereafter in
these respects he might be classed with Boetpius. ,Intluenced by'
this' wish, h~ sat down to :write an imitation of the admired work
of the Roman'; and, as Boeth.hls had penned the Consolation of
Philosophy, Chau-, ~er'wrote, in a style much mQre, mystical and
obscure~ 'but, suitable tq the taste of his age" the. Testam.ent of
Love.,'
Chaucer however does not appear altOge ther. to the a~vantage he
desired, in the com parison with Boethius.· Not only the Testa
ment of Love is much inferior, as a literary comp.osition, to the,
Consolation of Philo sophy; but the personal character, and moral.
and sentimental discipline of the mind,' o~ Chaucer' are by no.
means presented in so favourable a' light in this composition, as
the
VOL. IV. D
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3' un OF CHAUCIL
CRAP. L. tamper of :boethius is exhibited in the work 1889. of the
R.ottian. The Testall1eht of Love it
interesting to a reader of tastet because sudt an one will be eager
to trace the worki~ of the m.ind of Chaucer, when deliberating
about his fare, and anxiQu9 for the unexplored and unknown future;
and because we are always delighted tQ see a man possessing the
vigout and elasticity in the midst of calamity, to employ his
talents, and to call up the' re sources of reastln and
literature.. But the pleasure we experience in the perusal of Do.
ethiu8 goes beyond this. We See him cheer.. ful i~ defiance of
oppression, and exercising a strong and unfettered talent while his
tor mentors were almost at the" door. An un-. vitiated observer
will love even the weak nesses of our nature, and will hate the
Stoic of the domestic scene. But the weaknesses which wake in our
bosoms the pulse of ap- - probation,.are those of sympathy, anxiety
for the fate of others, and an e~tire and full participation in
their feelings. We love\ the man who is inconsolable for the danger
of his friend, and 'jnconsolable for hia loss. But,
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in the midst of disasters which personally CHAP. L.
aH"ect himself, it is glorious, or, which is 1889.
better, it is honourable, for him to be serene. Boethius, though a
Christian, had been
bred in the sf;hool of Paga~ philosophy. Chaucer was a Christian of
that school which was formed by monks, and consummated' by. friar~.
It wflS scarcely possible fQr a J.Ilan . thus educated, to look
death in. the face, on' the bed' of sickness,. or in the solitude
of the ~()set, with $erenity. The death-bed of those ages was
8tudiously set round by the clergy with penitences, and accompanied
by an :army of terrors. Its great lesson was pusil lanim~ty. Inthe
series of successive centuries, we shall scarcely ~nd a single
example in the 1Iliddle ages of a man led to the place of ex
ecution, except for the cause of religion, who met death with
firmness. The heroes and patriots of this period were of a
different &t_~p from those of earlie~ or later times; and,
though highly entitled to our commend- . ation, they want a certain
finish particularly .calculated to render the recollection of
them
»2
36 LIFE OF CHAUCER.
CH,AP.L. interesting to' us ct. ,Chaucer's' productioD; ,l~8g.
written fro'm his prison hi die Tower; is in ..
, '. , .. One solitary instan~ of 'exception olfers itself at lhiJ
period in the history of France. 'ISO beautiful and interesting,
,tha~ it would be almost treason against the character of the human
species as it existed in the fourteenth century. to omit it. Jean
Desmarets, advocate general to Charles VI. h,ad offended ~e duke ot
Burgundy. the ki~g's nncle. by resisting some of his prodigal
measures. The duke. who was of a most vindictive temper. seized
thE: occasion of the insurrection in 1882. arid contrived to have
the name of this innocent and virtuoUs inagistrate' includ.ed in
the list of those who, we~ destined' to' atone with their lives the
guilt of the rebelliOll .• Desmar~ts, . who was above seventy yeafS
of age, was dragged to the place of execution amidst the sympathies
and astonish ment of innumerable spectators. Arrived there •. he
was 'ex horted to cry out for pardon from the king; and ·it was
ip timated to him that by that submission be might save his life.
It I have rendered," answered the grey.haired magistrate, It a true
and loyal service to king Philip his great-grandsire. to king John
his grandfather, and to king Charles who begot him i none of these
princes ever charged me with disloya~ty or neglect, nor would the
king that now is, if he had attained the ~ge and di!!Cernment of a
man: I will cry, ont for mercy 'to God alone." Saying this. he came
forward with a look. of serenity and fortitude. and submitted his
neck to the stroke of the executioner.
Villaret. Hiatoire de France, ad aDD.
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LIFE OF : CHAUCER. 31
feeted with. all these faults : he co~plains too CHAP. I..
hluch and too . grievously, to possess ~hepro- l.>l)V.
per advantage for exciting our commiseration. :It is 'not to be
expressed how much these ·habits of mind. tended to place the
virtues and the horiour of the oppressed at the mercy of ,the
oppressor, .and to inspire the prosperous man with hard and
ungenerous dispositions .toward his victim.
The Testament of Love is to a 'corisider- Itsalkgo
'able degree an allegorical composition. Chau- l·icallt}le.
cer gays, " In this boke be many privi~ thinges :r wimpled and
fold, S unneth shull t leude men 'the ·plites unwinde u." How
much'ofit was ·understood by his' contemporaries it is .riot easy
for us to decide; they had the advantage of being bred in the
school of allegory, and were a€customed to guess its rid~les. In
every substitution of one name or one thing for another, however
arbitrary it maybe,in
_ r muffled, wrapped.
t -
• S8 .LIFE or CHAUCER.
CHAP. L. appeaiailce, writers 6f the. same ptnod, mo~ : 1889. dined
by the same opinions and manners, and
reading each other's productions, will in evitably fall into a
similar method. so that a familiar acquaintance with a series of
com-
. positions of this sort must aftOrd great advan. tage for the
e,xplanation of anyone of them. That advantage is now scareely to
,be pro cured; and therefore to readers of the present day'the
"many privie thinges" folded up by Chaucer in' hia work will not
without great difficulty be penetrated.
Marprite The most remarkable citcumstaflce in the allegory of this
performance is the use made of the term Marguerite. The author,
toward the conclusion, shows himself Willing to afford his reader
every assistance which he deemed. necessary or convenient to
prevent the mis interpretation of his work. Wi.th t~is view he
thus expresses ,himse1£ "Also I praie that every man parfitelie II
mowe knowe, through what intendon of 'J hert this tretise have
I
It may. J heart.
drawee How ,was it tlJ.e J sightfull manna in CR4P.""
,desert to children of Israel was spirituell mete? 13Sp •
.lIodily also it was; for menncs bo«:liea it tu,l.-'
n.heth. And yet a never the later, Christe ~ . eignified. Right so
a jewell b betokeneth a
gemme, and that is a stone vertuous, or els a perle. M.argarite, a
woman, b betokeneth grace, Iernyng, or wisedome of God, or • holie
churche. If C bred through vertue is made hqlie fleshe, whc¢ is it
that our God s&itk ? It is the spirit that yeveth life, the
Beshe of nothyng it profiteth d."
Marguerite therewr~ ip the T~~nt of LOve. it atftns, ~apI"eie~ts
spirituat(~onsolation. This however dpefl not p1:'e'tent Chaucer
through hi$ twhcl~ .performa.nce from c.onsi .. daring it a$ the
naroe of a woman. H~ praises her peerless beauty, ,and Iamentl
hi,
. wiworthiBessto obta~n her favour; he ad. dresSes her in t~
ianguage pf c9~ip, and intreats that ahe will, not ;aIways sbGw
heneJf
• .~ a neverthelesa. ,. bread thl'GUgh divine interpoej.tion.
• BO(i\ Ilx.... ubi supra.
II • :4:_ ' ·liU-·-
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40 'LIFE-OF CHAUCER.
'CHAP.L. obdurate tohi~ ~ddreSges~, :-In obe:passage or . 1389.
'·his work; he completely forgets the' :allegorical
'sense in ~hichhe wishes to 'be- understood, ~nd ha~ the liter~'
woman' so clearly· bef"Gre 'his -fancy, that :he exclaims,:'''
Alas, that'ever ''':kind made her f dedlie"g !"-atopie of regret
~hich can scarcely 'be:'thougbt~pplicable:to that'- iht~lle~t~al
treas~r~ which he, professea :to have shadowed in his Marguerite
..... ~
T~!tament: It may be her~ -observed, that the plan at Love I
•
compared 'upon which' the' Testament of Love 1S con- with the ~. .
. C?mpiaint structed, has a considerable tendency to con- 01 the '.
' ., , :~~~~t. fum ~be interpr~.ation·which, has been given
above of the Complaint- of. the .Black Knighi!. The' same turn of
mind which', dictated' the 'allegory in the one case, would have
led to 'the writing in. an' allegorical sense iI;l . the -other ':
nor is, there any thing morehhsh an4
strained ~ in representing loyalty una~, the image of love,- ·than
in describing, spiritual
"conSolation undet the figure of a:beautiful ,woman,. and typifying
the attainment of
e nature. I mortal. • Book II, p.505. col.' J.
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lady's favour.-It is sufficiently singular that, 1889.
!!so late as the end of the sixteenth century, s~';:. .
SoUDdl.
'Shakespear compos~ more than one hundred 'andfifty sonnets, which,
in their literal sense, 'are addressed to a' man, with all the
.forms -and expressions of the passion. of love; but 'which
probably cover some secret meaning that no critic has hitherto been
so fortunate as to penetrate. :'. One passage in the Testament of
Love :deserTes to be quoted, as expressing Chau 'cer's opinion of
his writings, formed when he . had already arrived at a very ripe
age, and was now placed under a cloud of periJ. and adversitY, of
which it was,not easy for him to discern the issue. . The sense he
ex -presses of his own .merits. is not conveyed in terms
altogether so elevated as those employed .by Horaceb and Ovid i,
but which 'perhaps for: that very reason convey the idea of a
mqte
.. Cannina. Lib. III, Cartnen xxx.
I Metamorphoses. Lib. XV. vcr. 671.
Chaucer'. chara<:1cr
of rum sell'.
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41 LIFE OF CHAUCER.
CHAP. L. sober and full persuasion of the claims he 13890 possessed
to the. commendation of mankind •
. The work principally consists of a dialogue between the prisoner
-and Love, who visi~ him in his cell, as Philosophy visited the
pri- 80n of Boethius. Toward the close of their con venations, a
question arises respecting pre destination, a favourite topic
among_ liter&fY men in the times of Chaucer. For the pur-' pose
of introducing his own eulogium. the: author chooses to forget the
identity between himself and the writer of those perfonnan«s which
had so greatly illustrated the literature of England, and makes
Love amwer thus to the difficulties propounded hy her pupil. "I
8halltell the, this lesson to -lerlle,-Myne ()Wne true servaunt~
the noble philosophkaU poete in- Englishe (whiche evermore hym
busieth and travaileth right sore my name to increse; wherfore all
that willen me gode. owe to doe him worship and ~verence both ..
truly his better ne his It pere in schole of my .
II peer.
roles coud I neTer 1inde)-~e, quod she, in CHAP.L.
a tretise that he made of my serYaunt Troilus., 1389.
bath this matter touched" and at the full this question -I
assoiled. ~ertaitlly h~s noble saiyngs can I not amend: in godenes
'of gentil m man- lich speth without any' maner o{ nicitie of 11
SMereS imaginaci0Il' in wit, and in gode reson of 0 sentence, he
passeth "al other ! makers \"
It is remarkable that in this passage Chau- TestameDt
eer commends himself in unqualified terms ~r:;; f . prcVIOUl
..
as the true servant 0 Love, and hiS poem Iy tG tbe
of'TroUus and Creseide as an, honourable !:~ , Wometa.
example of that service; in both these poiirts contradicting the
admissions of an opposite 8ort, and the, apology, contained in the
Pro-- lague to the' Legende of Gode WO~ Hence it may perhaps be
inferred, first, that Anne of'
the Legende was not written till after the !::~-:ia . d of
CL......· 'd· d Chaucer perlO U'"4UCer S lsgraee, an was a sort
:~-
1 absolved, solved. ID manly.
a This word is explained by none of the glo.'lSarists.
• judgment. sentmna. P poe~.
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LIFE, OF' CHAt1CEli.
CHAP, L, of courtly compliment:oiFere1i 'to !the queetl }3S9.on'
his restoration ~ to ~favoul' '; ,secondly, that
Chaucer ' 'th G d ().. A" had ' now fint e 00 ,'<.!!een ' nne' '
.. some -share ,at :n~~~~:~e least' in obtaining ~is' pardbn ;
-and; thirdl}) .... orshipof that· , . h T :. of L h tbe Mar- It
was In t e esta:ment ove, oW en ~~~. . he laboured under ca:1amity
arid' depression,
that Chaucer first: adopted, t1!e ,mystical sy ·stem of
notians-i~tended to be signified under the worship of the daisy.
."
Jtes"-tioQ. Richard II. had now beenJor about two .~~.~ I
a years and a h~lf, stripped of the' prerogati'VCl of royalty; and,
b0iled with sentiments of im .. patiena.e at the thought of hiS.
degraded situ ation. He did not fail to comment upon the
:'v-i"olence and intemperance- of ';W oodstock', proceedings; he
was persUaded that, how!to ever the bloody ~xecutions, of ~ the
Wonder!. working Parliament and the 'in.e:X;,orable temper betrayed
by his unc1,e on that ocCasion might obtain the applause of the
moment, . they would not prove the basis: of a lasting popu
larity. Men have a natura,1 bias in favour of regular proceedings
and old in'stitutions; and there was no, reason to doubt that, if
Richard skilfully watched his opportunity, he might
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LtFE OF' CHAUCEl.i
.. "violent :state of ' things, and w.as ill calculated 1389-
a
.to' last~ ~icbard . was young j he h~d aone little of '~positi.ve
nature to forfeit the affec';' jons of his su.bjeas ;' he had
'been, saved' from. ' perpetrating the worst crimes. he· meditated.
hy (~e auspicious io.terference of his 'mother OS;
l),i& consort.. ,He "",as now twenty-two years ~frc1ge, a
petiJ)d of life, at w,hich· a! ~an' seems
:e~ti'tled, to tri.al~· a~d iwhich' is favourable:to a ~~n' degree
of discr~tion. It 'was oDviot'l§ _~h~ ~every thing waS tending to
the' restqrr ~tion . of royal 'authority ; . and litde w~s:·
(eO
,~.ir~ of the king, more than to claim. ip. :a ' JJt.~!11>:".
and spirit~d tone the place to. which he was born. t : ~
~; Richard II. seems 'at this time to have had .. ble advisers. He
came forward in'the cOlm"" cil.:.c~amber, and asked what was,'the
age to whic.h he had attained? He was answered PY: sQme who were
secretly ptepared for the scene. Am I not of an age then, rejoined
he, to take the reins of government into my O~D hands, and to be no
longer under the
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-I. LIFE OF' eHJ.l1CEL
CHAP.L management of tutors r 1 by thi.· language .' 1889. avoiding
to throw impeachment upon' the
conduct of the usurpers, and merely signify ing to them that their
authority was at' an end. He then proceeded to take the ireat seal
from the present chancellor·, and to diSJniSs Wood. stock and his
aasociates from their employ ments. He took no vengeance upon his
ad. versaries; he recalled none of his obnoxioUi ministers; he'
publiShed a general pardon; and he remitted to his subjects a
half-tenth and half-fifteenth which had been granted·him. by
parliament. Thi$ revolution was effected without resistance;' and
the imprudences ancl excesses of both parties seamed mutually "Con
signed to oblivion.
It was on the third of May that Richard II •. defeated the party of
his uncIe, Thomas of Woodstock; and on the twelfth of J aly fol.
lowing, Chaucer was appointed to theho nourable and lucratf.e
office of ,derk of the-
• Rymer, 12 :a. 2, MaL I.
/
CK)Dnection between the events, and tends to
~onfirm the conjecture already delivered that Chaucer owed his
liberation to the inter- Cha_'-
o • f hUh 01 h atibertJ. POSltlon 0 t e queen. n appl y, owever, he
did not obtain his enlargement uncon ditionally; and the terms
upon which it was yielded form the principal blemish in the life
of'the poet.
The advisers of Richard II. inSisted that Impc3C~ hi, furmer
Chaucer should not be set at liberty, till he assQC~·
had made anauiple confession of what they called his misdemeanours,
and had impeached hi. former associates. To this proposal he
ultimately yielded: and, as he tells us in the performance we have
been considering, of- f~ to prove the truth of his information, by
entering, . according to the modes of the rimes, the lists of
combat with the parties accused; which they, as he adds, knowing
the veracity of his allegations, declined '0
~ _.------------------------------- I Book I, p. ~S1, cul. 1.
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48 LIFE OF CHAUCElt.
CHAP. L. The Testament of Love, as appears from- 1389. various
allusions to the situation' of the~authot :
Date ~f the. h . , f h d" . Trstament in t e course 0 t e pro
uctlon, was written. " Love. after' Chaucer had given i~ . his
confession"
, and before he was liberated -from confinement~' It may therefore
be referred to the month of:· June of the present year. His
confes$io~ which was'made to ~he king, could -not have been
delivered earlier than May. _ . 'Froin Oc ... tober 1886 to May
188g Richard'wa~ totall}') stripped of 'authority; and Ch~ucer'
could have had no motive to . degrade himself by such a confession,
and such an impeachment 6f the partisans with whom he' had been
en-l gaged, as he appears to have yielded to •. On the other hand,
it may-well be believed that,
. when he was appointed in July clerk.of the works, he was no
longer under confinement in the Tower. The work however, as will
shortly be seen, was not published sooner than the year 13gB.
Nature of In the imperfect. knowl~dge we . possess' Chaucer'. • h .
f h' . d 1ctorm- respectmg t e traDsactlons 0 t IS perlO , we ¥=.
are somewhat at a loss to conjecture what
~uld be the motives of the ministers of
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un OF CHAUCER.
Richard IT. for extorting from Chaucer the CHAP. L.
concession of which we' are speaL~g. It is' 1389 •. ~· scarcely to
be imagined that they did it for the sole purpose of degrading his
character: at the same time that John of .Northampton· and his
confederates' would hardly appear of importance enough to be made
objects of prosecution after so long an interval. . In fact,
Northampton obtained his pardon from the crown in the following
year u. Chaucer himself seems to refer to pers.ons of a higher rank
than that -of magistrates of. the city of London, when he says, "
Of tho confederacies maked by my soverains, I 11; nas but a. ser ..
vaunt Y." The memoirs and documents of 'the times, however, lend us
no assistance in discovering the individuals. It could dot be
Woodstock and the .heads of the usurpation; for Richard conducted
himself toward them on this occasion with the'gr~atest forbearance
and Olemen~. Least of all, could it be John
a p",t. 14 Ri~. 2, p. 1, m. 4.
7 Book II, p. 502~ col. 1.
YOLo IV. E
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LIFE OF CHAUcna.
CHAP. L. of Gaunt; for from this time forward, though the
dissimilitude .of character. between 'him 1389· and .the king
always kept thein at a distance from each othe~, yet Richard felt
convinced of the fidelity and loyalty of his uncle; . and under all
trying cir~umstances resorted to him. as his most assured and
powerful supporter.
~:n~~::.ct ~ .This undoubtedly is the. cir<;uglSta,nce in· ~enfe
Of Chaucer, which conveys the most unfavourable. impression of him
to modem times. . He staQ,ds' here in the light of a per son,' who
accepted the confidence of a certain party; _ who, from the
persuasion that they might safely trust him, was admitted into
their secrets; who partook of their cQunsels" and shared-their
attempts; and who afterward pu~chased his safety by betraying his
as sociates. Nothing canjustif:ysuch a condll~~, but the
supposition that _ the _ individual by whom it is adopted has been
deluded into saine project of an exceedingly .criminal na ture,
that he is,aft~rward led hy his reflections to see it in its true
enormity, and that no way remains to prevent the perpetration bu~
by a ' judicial impeachment: such a -situation is de-
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LIFE OF CHAUCER~ 51
Scribed in the person' of Jaffier ih abbe St. 'C.ltAP~ L.
Real's narrative of the Conspiracy ,of Venice., 1889. 1
.In that case the treachery employed may be admitted' to be
commendable, and in some degree to atone for the' weakness and
guilt incurred by the accuser in the beginning of the transaction'.
. ':But the situatidn of Chaucer was by no .fueans of this sort.
The confederacy into which lie had entered was' probably a com ..
mendable one; and the end for which it had been formed had passed
by, alid the confe 'deracy been dissolved; before Chaucer gav~
information respecting ,h,is associates.
What then were the motives of his con- lis moun •• , . ,
duct? He has himself assigned one, in the in.. '., 'dignation
which, he had conceived against , them. Th.ey had plotted to starve
him; had Re!lent.
'cut off his supplies, and embez#ed his income. mente
He probably thought .that n6measuras, were to be kept with persons
who had conducted· .
. themselves toward hiIiJ. so basely,. He was impatie'nt of being
any longer accounted their ally. All that was resentful in his
nature was . stirred up at the thought of the treatment he
£2
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LIFE OF CHAUCER..
ellA'. L. had endured; and he' felt as if it would be an 1889.
offence against morality and human nature to
suffer such villainy to go unpunished. These sentiments are
undoubtedly congenial to the mind of a man deeply injured; and
especially when the injury proceeds from those for whom he has
sacrificed much, whom he has liberany assisted in their
difficulties, and for his connection with whom he is even still
suffering calamity and distress. Such senti. ments may extenuate
what is offensive in the conduct of Chaucer in this instance, but
cannot justify it. He who pursues retribution for the ,offences of
others, should firmly refuse to obtain it by any sacrifice of the
dignity and roctitude of his own character.
Degree of censure d~'to this de. fe«o
Perhaps however Chaucer was influenced in his compliance with the
importunities and threats' of the administration, by a certain
degree of timidity and irresolution. This is a very common feature
,of human character; and, though it must be' confessed to be a ble
mish, is not destructive of the fUIldamental principles of a
virtuous temper. Chaucer, it may be, was inaccessible to the attach
of
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corruption; he bpasts very loudly; in the CHAP. L.
performance we are considering, of his un- 1389. 1
impeachable integrity in the execution of his functions as a
servant of the crown z. He was n9t easily intimidated; or induced,
by calamity or fear, to tum aside from his course: he was for a'
considerable period faithful to. his engagements with his
associates, and, as he tells us, " conceled ther privitie lenger
then he should -." Such a man might be an excellent member of
private and domestic society, a true patriot, and a genuine lover
of mankind; he might be a stranger to the selfish passions, and to
that mutability which is so pernicious to the best purposes of
life; generous, tender, affectionate, warm-hearted and charitable.
With such endowments, a man might have passed through life in
twenty different stations, and not a speck of soil have fastened
upon the whiteness of his actions; had not that single temptation
occurred against which alone he was not proof, had
, a Book II. p.50!!, col. 1. • Book I. p. ~88.col. 1.
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CNAP.L. not misfortune maliciously conspired to direct. ! 1389. her
attacks against the only imperfect ~d
vulnerable point of his nature. Duration of In estimating the
morality of Chaucer's I Chaucer'. d h· ... I . adversity. con uct
on t IS occaSlOn, It 1~ a so Incum-
bent upon us to take into the acco~nt the length of his misfortunes
and his imprison m.ent. From the documents and the reason~ ings we
have. produced it seem~ clearly. to follow, that his confinement in
the Tower endured· for no less a period than three years. He had
perhaps been an ex~le for two years previously to his
imprisonmeq.t. He had passed through an accumulation of e.vils;
starved for ~ant of remittances abroad, and reduced to sell the
slender pittance which remained to him in the form of a pension,
for subsistence. He whose resolution. holds out during five year~
of calamity and distress, is no fickle and effeminate character. If
Chaucer~ who had witness~d. the 'anarchy of his coun try, and t4e
tragical scenes which were trans ~cted almost in his presence, who
had been ~educed to barter his last resources for bread, ;f.pd w.ho
saw cpl affectiopate wife and ~ che- ~. - ,. .., . . . .,....
..
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rished offspring in danger to petish for want, CHAP.C.
felt at length subdued and willing to give up 13S9. j.
somewhat of the sternness of his 'virtue, . we may condemn him as
moralists, but we carinot fail in some degree to sympathise with
feelings which make an es~ntial part of our nature.
One idea arises in this place, which cannot fail to strike us as'
interesting and instructive. Chaucer tells us, that his conduct in
this in stance involved him in' a torrent of ill. will, and
brought upon him the charge of being false, lying, base and
ungrateful. It was prin .. cipally to defend himself against these
charges, that he composed his, elaborate performance of the
Testament of Love. , It is· probable that the, lapse of a single
ge neration would have blotted out from the memory of his
countrymen these censures upon the father of English poetry. Who
now appears as his accuser? Chaucer: Chau~ cer only. We have, no
evidence but what we draw from this production, that he was ever
concerned in the turmoils of the city, that he was an exile, a
prisoner in the Tower, 'and that he was finally led by resentment
or by
Chaucer the sole hisrorilll efhia own wc:a~ nelli,
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LIFE OF CHAUCER.
caAtt.·L. terror to the dishonourable act of impeaching u'13ti!l.
his confederates. Little did the poet think,
when he sat down to write thi$ laborious. apology for his conduct,
that he was hereb), perpetuating an imputation, which without his
interference Time was preparing to· blot out for ever from the
records of meQlory, while his poetical compositions were destined
to render him dear to the lovers of the muse ;tS long as: the
English language shall endure. }low feeble and erroneous are the
calculations of the wisest of mankind ~ .
But what is most extraordinary· is, that tile Testament of Love was
nQt published' under the immediate uneasiness and impa .. tience of
the moment, and did not receive the last hand of the' author _ till
several ,ean after. This is evident from Gow~r speaking of it as an
unfinished work.in the sixteenth year of Richard II, in some lines
w~h we $,a11 presently have occasion tp quote. Chau.. eer therefore
did not enter the field against his cenSJlrers while the
accusations t~ which he was exposed were yet in their v~gour; but
brought forward his def~nce at a tilij.e
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LIFE OF CHAUCElt.
when, as we may reasonably suppose, the CHAP.L
malignity of which he complained had lost 1389.
its venom, and he had been fully restored to his place in the
community •.
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un OF CHAUCER.
JOHN OF GAUNT RETURNS TO ENGLAND AFTER
AN ABSENCE OF THREE YEARS.-CREATED DUKE
OF AQ!!IT AlNE.-CHAUCER RESIGNS HIS OFFICE •
.,\ND RETIRES TO' WOODSTOCK.-CONCLUSIONS I
OF THE ASTROLABIE,-~REACH BETWEEN CHAU-
CER AND GOWER.-CANTERBURY TALES.-PEN
SIaN OF TWENTY POUNDS PER ANNUM •.
CHAP. Lt. JOHN of Gaunt, 'as we have seen, sailed 1886. for Spain
in' the month of May 1386. He
s~:::~~x;f took with him an army of twenty thousand ~~~. men; with
sir Thomas Percy, afterward earl
'Of Worcester, as admiral o( his fleet, and sir John Holland as
constable of his forces a.
• Ftoissart, V.I. III, Chap. xxix. Knighton, ad ann. The number
(20,O()O) is taken from Knighton; who however, stating the army a
few lines further in a different way, makes it to have consisted of
2,000 men at arms and 8,000 archers i a more probable
computation.
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LIFE OF CHAUCEL
The king presented him,in a s~lemn audience CHAP. LI.
f)f leave, with a crown of gold, and the queen 1386~
made a similar present to his consort; and a p1-oclamation was
issued that every one should acknowledge them for king and queen of
Spain. A considerable portion of the Cas~U- lians regarded the
title of his consort, the legitimate heir to the throne of that
kingdom, as sacred; and he had been invited to the enterprise' by
John king of Portugal, whose dominions 'were laid claim to, and his
capital besieged, by the reigning king of Castille, son -to Henry
of Transtamare.
The milit;uy success of this enterprise was such as it was not
difficult to have foreseen. John of Gaunt, having landed at
Corunna'in the month of August, gained some advantages~ and took
several towns. He married his eldest· ,daughter by the princess
Blanche to his royal Ph~~:? ~f
II b B h h..J b Lancaster a y. ut t e progress ,e ma"e was y no
lD3ITied to .' • . the kinlof
means declslve; and he lost ~ore .by tl~e un- Portugal.
happy effects of the climate, than he had .
• Froissart. Chap. uxvii. xxxviii, ,xxiJ[. 'Knighton, adann.
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68 ~IFE OF CHAUCER,'
CHAP. LL gained by the military prowess of himself • 1387. and his
followers. He therefore found it ne- John of , h f th J: 11 '
~au~tre. cessary, m t e autumn 0 e 10 oWing year, tUe8mto • 'hh' J:
'h f # Aquitaine, to retire Wit IS lorces mto t at part 0 "
die
duchy of Aquitaine which was still possessed by the English
C.
Here a circumstance of good fortune at. 1888. " ,
Treaty of tended hIm, which served m some measure peace be-
tweenhim to balance the miscarriage of his expedition. and the
reigning A negotiation was opened for the marriage of king ..
E
Castille. his only daughter by his Spanish consort, with the duke
of Berri one of the uncles of the king of France; and John, the
reigning mo narch of Castille," hearing of the proposal, and being
alarmed for the consequences which might arise from placing the
claim to his crown in su~h hands, immediately resolved, by the most
alluring overtures on his part, to defeat
Catherine the project d, In conclusion, the princess was of
Lanc:all- 'd 'H ' fA' ld ter mar- marne to enry pnnce 0 stunas, e
est ried to the h kin ' . . h dred prince, of son to t e g m
pOSSeSSlOn; two un A.twill.
C Froissart, Chap. lxxxvii, 'Scc, d Froissart, Cbap. cxiii,
cuxiii,
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thousaQd nobles were given to John ot Gaunt CltAP.LI.
to indemnify him for the expences of his ex- . IS88. I
pedition e; and a pension of ten thousand pounds per annum was
settled out of the reve .. nues of Castille upon hims~lf and his
consort respectively f. He returned to Lo.ndon in -
1389. November 1380, bringing with him, accord- Jobnof
Gaunt ing to Knighton, forty-se.ven mules loaded returns te
with chests of gold' ; and it has been noticed among the efFect~ of
his enterprise, that he succeeded on this occasion in entailing the
crowns both of Portugal and Castille up~n
• Froissart, Chap. cxxxviii. f Walsingham. A. D. 1389. Sixteen
thousand' marks upon
John of Gaunt and twelve thousaad upon his consort: Knigh ton, ad
ann. It is difficult to compute the value' of John of Gaunt's
acquisitions on this occasion. They are variously stated in tbe
contemporary authors; and the writ in Rymer (Vol. VII, 12 Ric. 2,
Aug. 26) by which the treaty is con firmed, does pot enter upon
these particulars. The sums in the text would amount to a prompt
payment of £.1,200,000 in modem money, and a pension of £.860,000
per annum. But this seems to exceed belief. Knighton however says
that Joha of Gaunt brought away with him only half the indemnifi
aation ; and the pensions were perhaps never paid.
• K:n~ghton, ad ann.
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LIFE or CHAUCER.
CHAP. Ll the heads or- his descendants. He of courSd \389.
-surrendered at this time his personal claims
to the Spanish sovereignty. The return of John of Gaunt to his
native
country, after an absence of more than three years, was hailed with
the warmest congra tulations. The king had already succeeded in
putting an end to the usurpation of Thomas of Woodstock; he was
inclined to conduct himself with forbearance and moderation to
ward those who'had so deeply offended him; and the task was'
congenial to the -dispositions of John of Gaunt, to reconcile the
differences, and restore good understanding and kindnesst
between persons whose true interests - were the same. ThE; result
of his return to his native country displayed itself in general har
..
Cre3trd mony'; and he was rewarded by Richard with !~~~r:fne. a
grant of the fief of the duchy of Aquitaine
in the same manner in which it had been enjoyed by his elder
brother the Black Prince h.
b Rymer. 18 Ric. 2. Mar. 2. It has been stated on the allthority of
Froissart (Vol. IV, Chap. lxiv), that Jobo of
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this place, of John of Gaunt advancing a 1389- I
d - d' 'fi II 1· h h' ' Id CalUIBIIYo£ eman In u par lament, t at
IS e est Lclancl , _ refuted.
son, afterward Henry IV, should be recog-' nised as presumptive
heir to the crown I. The true heir, in case of' Richard dying
without' "issue, was Roger Mortimer earl of March, eldest son of
Philippa, the only daughter of Lionel- duke of Clarence; and he had
accor<J.. ' ingly been recognised in', that c~aracter in the
year 1387 k. John of Gaunt's proposal is referred to the year 13g6
1• It is extraor ... . dinary that such a tale should have been: so
Dften 'repeated \ and never have been refuted;
,~------------~--------~~~----~. .-- 'Gaunt, a few yeani after,
again resigried' the duchy of ~ui~ '-tiline into the ha~dsof the
king. (Collinll# Life of Johs of .Gaunt; 19 Ric. 2,) Walsingham
asserts the same thing. ,This however is ~ot true. He is described
by the titles of , the ,late ~uke of Aquitaine and Lancas~r, in a
patent of -Richard. II, dated a f~ weeks after Qis death. (The
patent'i.
recited in the Rolls, 1 Hen. 4, p. 1, m. 1O.) Leland, Collectanea,
Tom. I, p. 883.
k Sandford, Book III, Chap. xiv.
I See Sandford, Book IV, eqap. " and CoUins, J..ife ef Gaunt, ad
ann.
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8. LIFE OF CHAUCER..
CHAP. Lt. An argument is by the historians put into the 1389. mouth
of John of Gaunt, founded -upon the
ambiguity of the surname of Croucbbackf
which had been given to Edmund earl of Lan. easter, brother to
Edward I. The true mean ... ing of this name refers to the cross.
worn on the backs of those who had taken the vow of pilgrimage or
crusade to the Holy Land; in the same manner as the inhabitants of
a cer tain monastery were called the Crutched, or Crossed, Friars
m. The tale however repre-o sents John of Gaunt as stating Edmund
to be twin·to his brother the king' {though. he wu in reality
nearly six years younger D.), and adtiing that, his back having
been broken in his infancy, he was set aside from the suc cession,
though th~-first born, and Edward I. preferred before him. The
story proceeds to ·say, that the earl of March replied to John of
Gaunt, affirming that Edmund Crouchback was a most elegant figure,
and. a very valiant
• Stow, Sunrey of London: Aldgate Ward • .. Matt. Paris, A. D.
1289, 12405. .-
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-.. oI~ier., as -might be.seen in.·th~;-chrollicJeB.- eiJll.p:i~.
The earl of MarCh;.as~at Ilhi.s time lieutellant '1389.
of:Ireland~ and _ appearSJ .. not7to-1mVe ~ed ., . Englai1d for
sevetal.years 0 .... ~.pt:etcUD.ce'could '.' . .,
be:moredisgtacefut. from the lips~:oft'1ohn 'of Gau~ . than .one'
which -thUs rept1!8eD.ded~ IDs ancestdrs, for, several gebera~on9
as, U1l1rper"
If he~had, been a mario ofllm1i~.dl2lIlIbUioa; this:..cotdd
never:bave 'led 1iini· to!ton~e ,nth.desire'the idea 'of lmng
a;.subjatt -411 the reign. of his :son: ,he was iltthial tUJp.~nn1'
fifty.-si1i: yeam of ·age, ,and , u::at IlnOstjl'obu&o
£ons1litution;. " But he had' in ~realitr "'~0tett ,. his life:
.tQ; Ioyalty·:arid his cioulltiy. - 1fiIi~80d--
- . .; ~ . )
. • Sandford. Book ~II. Chap. xi.,.. • CGtton, 1 Hen. t. .VOJ; ...
IV ~ ., , - ,l
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.6t
.~H a.P. Jr. -should: be supposed to. have': the 'authmry' or •
1J90. his.generous and neble..Dlirided father.· ' Ch3~lCtr ape .
Ghaucer" 38.: we have. seen, ·was in the s.um4
potnted
clerk of the Dier. :0£ ~ 1 Ssg ~npoi1lted· to the· office of clerk
works. ,,..
Employed in rep"ir jllg~t. George!s chapel at Windsor.
'of tlie 'wlilrks ~l : This, was.a situation. which . . may
b.e·:8upposed.to have heeD.in many re ap.ec¢s· more congenial to
his temper, than his forin,er. employmellt' of comptroller of the
CusftmtB .. ( .. )its ~ duties related to the. erection, repair and
embelJ.H.hinent of theking's . Dian.;; ai.on8~pirks. : and
domains.; . and, . amo~g. the! c1ocumentlt1or.be ·fdund . ir;tour
reco~ds,Wu-, ~ t~:Iife;oLChaucer, '~ne' is"a;'cOlD..J tnilsion
addressed to: him, of the.'date .of twelfth ~; J.Uly; 13()O., fGr
work, fret be don~. tQ8t .. Ceorge!s ;chapel in, the castle of
Winq.~ fQr r~;; He(Jhad !the further, advail,tag4 ~:this . "w
.:.appointment, '. of b~\ng entitled oy; preio< c;ede~,"ahd
!patCDt to ltlie'~a8sistanee' of a 4eputy. 'fot whom a .salary was
proVided by die crPw.n·; whereas, in~his fonner pBice .01
comptroller of the customs, it had been usual, --_ ......... --
.... ~
~. ..: r. .,.
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as lla&appeM'ed, to require the principal to CHAP. LI.
discharge his functions in person, and to keep 1890.
the accounts of his place' with his own hand. The salary of his
present employment, as has., been.already inentioned', was two
,shillings per diem; making an anilUal income of thirty- six
pounds. ten shillings, and equi~alent, in denominations of modern
money, to an in- come of six hundred and fifty-seven pounds •. .
Chaucer' does not appear to have possessed \he appointment of clerk
of the works longer' R~~~!s: than about twenty months. My
researches have: not· enabled me to find the patent con .feniJ?g .
the office. upon his su~c~ssor; but,. without this direct evidence,
I have disco..: vered documents sufficient very neady to fix, the
length of time for which he occupied this. SttuatlOn. The name of
the person who was derk of the works in the fifteenth and six
teenth years of Richard II. is John Gedney;, and I find a record of
this person appointing. a deputy, of the date of 16 Sept~mber 13 9
1 \
• Chap. X.XXVI, p.505. t. Pat. 15 Ric •. 2, p.·l, m. 24 •
• 2
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lJF£, DE CHAUCER;
(;HAP. Lt. In the' rolls of the preceding yeu of Ri ·~;91. chard
II; .there is an instrument to t~e same
purpose, by which Chaucer appoints a deputy; dated 22 Jant:tary
13Ql v. It was therefore ' at some period, in the interval between
these dates that Chaucer retired to a private station.
Rrtires to Wood stock.
We have no information , to guide us as to the cause of his
retirement: and are therefore. a.t liberty to conjecture, either
that the 6ffice was taken from him that it might be given to some
more useful and consummate courtier; <;>r that, satiated
with' the hurry ~al1d tutmoiI~ of public life, he voluntarily .
determined~ being now sixty-three years age, to spend: the short
remainder of his life in the midst of that simplicity and solitude
which he so ardently loved.
There is a tradition which represents' him as passing some of his
last years at his hous'e at "Vooclstock u, which had been the
fayourite haunt of the most peaceful and prosperous.
• Pat. 14 Ric. z, p,2, m. Sl. "Life, prefixed to Urry's
EditioJr.
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, ,. .. { . perlo'd or his ea~lier' ~ii~t~ftce; aii~ this 8Up-
CHAP.lI.
position seetns C?ntb~"wiib~~ to be 'the most liJ91.
pro!?able. H~s Conclus~'ons ;~t the Astrolabit, w~ich c3:rries' in
the body of the work t~e date' Of't"2-March 13g1 w, is, as he says,
", s1iHicient for oure otizont, cotnpowned after the latitude
ofOxenforde s." From
~ J .,
which words it seems to' follow with some degre'e of evidence,
that, as his son Lewis, to whom the performance is addressed,
thEm're sided at Oxford', 'so the work itself was written. at no
great distance from that city.
It may be observed, by the way, that the precise date which Chaucer
has. assigned to his' Conclusions of the Astrolabie, leads to
an
r ' .
additional presumption of the warm~h and tenderness of his
pate;'flal affections. He retired from public life in the course .
of . this year; we know that on the twenty-second of . January he
had not yet resigned his office of clerk of the works; he seems
therefore to have
.. p. 442. 443, Urry's Edition. '" Conclusions of the Astrolabie,
Introduction.
I .
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LIFE OF- -Q1lAUCE~ . -' ... "
CRAP. LT. used ~is first leisure in cQt.npo&inf; these, few
Pages fo, r the ins~ruction of his, youno-est boy~ .1891. Co
We may figure him to ourselvea' ~ ~pending • Vilits \lis youngest
100 at Oxford.
a short time with the" littel Lowy( '.~Jl his journey from London,.
conversing I wi~~
him respecting his studies, and then, pro~ Conclusions ceeding to
Woodstock. Chaucer sat down in, ~~ " ' , " ,
Astro- his rural habitation, perhaps the ne:,ct morn.~,
labie.
jng, to compose \his little. manual·of astra; ~Olnical rudiments,
and dedicated the ve~, prst fruits of his p.riva<:y: t<? t,he
far;9itatin~ tq this youth of ten years the acquisi,tion of use~
ful and ornamental knowledge. ,
L~gende of If we are correct in our c~>njecture,. de",: ~~~~
wO-livered in ~he last' chapter, respe~t!ng ~h<:
occas~on on which Chaucer prod~~ed: ,hi~ Legende of ~ode Women,. it
~as pro~ably: written in the year: 1 3g0. It was a tribute- o(
grat~tude 'to the G.~od Qgeen Anne, who had obta,ined for him ·his
liberty and the-appoint ment of clerk of the works. Tl).is appoint
.. : . "
ment he did not ,receive till July 138g: and the Legende will
perhaps be confessed by a judiciol1& reader to be too courtly a
com position to be likely ,to ha,:"e been ~ritt~n
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-LIPE 'OF' aJAUCER..
hy an old ,man who had renounced: the cares, 1891.
the:ambition, and the' artificial and interested forms, of the
world.: Ilt-is much, more pro" bable that it was composed within
pernaps an hundred yards of the- residence of majesty, the Old
Palace of Westminster. . , . There is' a . striking contrast
between the Sentiment.
. ofChau- feelingS with which Chaucer first entered into c:er ~t
this
period.
possessiOn of his house at Woodstock, and those with' which he now
returned to it. It was given him by Edward III, and the' scenery
¢oDbguoue, to it is ~uded, to in. some of. his . . earliest poems.
. It was here that~ he com-· mencedthe 'career of: ambition •. ' At
an early· ,ge he:,was drawn fr()tn his academic 'retreats, or from
the obscurity of a priyate station, and. pla.ced ·:under the .ey~
of ro,wty. ~ He an tic;ipated a gradation of .a1Huem:e and
dignity; and he was not 'diaapp~.inted. .Hewatched the
COJl.nten~nce of. his sovereigns; he cal culated th,e means of
rising to fortune; and, if not a <;Qrrupt .;,tnd a fawning
courtier, we: may at least believe that he was an enlight ened
'and an assiduous one. He mingled the' thoughts of a man looking
onward to fortune,
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L'lBE 'OV afA:UOER!
.C:HAP. U. ~ith: thd vivacity :Of,. an' unworn &am.e; ~mI
.131)1· Uiesa.int .. hopes whiehalmolt1universally characterise.
the' utU.on. of inexperieiTce ,;and talentJ, Hewanderoo jil.' the'
country .. 'so' as
. not to forget the tbwn'; arid"he en;nyed the ~!lvan' arid
tne,suEmtJ. SCl8ne' with the tempeJi of a poet, not that of ,a
hennit~" ,'. ." .: ;He· W8,8.; not· howev-er: :long . permitted" to
remain .1n ~ retirement.: ,He ,'serVed it)- : the armies Of his'
country .. f:He ,was 'emplGycd in negotiations and ' imbassi~&"
. finally ~ .he waS fixed';'-in'> the' "station. ' :of:
comptrol~erof the customs-; an, appointrium'twhich,he,~;red for
twehte,;years, ,frotn· the.for.ty-srxth~tothe ' fi:fty:.dghtn y«ar,
'Offhi& ~;' and in which~ he was., daUy:; 'bu~ied, with
cocket& and dockets, and t&'UirOuI1ded,~t'h)". 'hurry, I
bustle' .. and'
eonfusi"n op: ,a,ur. 'qua-y~ 'aoo .8ugar-casks,_ be~r...bJitt'- a,
and eomm<m-touncihnen. in ou~
I .
, . 'J' ".,,' . ' .. , : , • I Ale, i. e: some liquo~ prepared from
corn, and qualified' wi~1i a,¥6~a.b1e bitter; waS 'one Of the most
usual refreshment.
of the 1n~a,b~!\~tll.9f tb!8 isl2!~d '£rolJl·tbe time of· th~
~axon8.t a,nd, is~ mention~d in thei~,l~w~. : ,S~ Wilkin~~
~~~:~gl~. Saxomcre, p. ~7S. ,~W~st-lntlla~"Aet... '; .... ';;:'
.
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LIVE OF CHAUCER..
And· he 'd m.ad~ .~ll his reckenynges,. I ~..:; 1391. I
. llO~SB OF FAME, BOOK 11, vt~. ~~-4-t
that· he was free to retum to his·private abode; a.nd to Court·the
muse. ;From the circumstance of our finding a s.ingle grant of
the'soveceigiJ; indulging him with one montli's lea.v~ of:ablo
lence on urgent affairs, we may' -infer that he Was almost
perpetually immersed iIi business, and, :was in danger of
forgetting the fair " face o.fnature~ ,. " .: . . . At length, .at
the advance~ age of sixty~ three, he, aligned his promotions, .an~;
bid an eternal 'adieu to courts and ,-isits,' ta business 'and p~
and superintendence and audiences.' ~e .thought it high time,
havin~ lived so: much, far the public and for fortuneJ to live a
'little. for himself. He waS demous to expose ,biriiself no' lODger
to the buffets. ~ild assaults of.1calamity. He had probably
scarcely seeR Woodstock for. seventeen .y~ He began 'with:
refreshing his recollections~ and revi