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~
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• 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