Of his own substance, and his offerings too.
His wants were humble, and his needs were few.
Wide was his parish-houses far asunder-
But he neglected nought for rain or thunder,
In sickness and in grief to visit all

The farthest in his parish, great and small.
Always on foot, and in his hand a stave,
This noble example to his flock he gave,
That first he wrought, and afterwards he taught.
Out of the Gospel he that lesson caught,
And this new figure added he thereto, -

That if Gold rust, then what should Iron do?
And if a priest be foul, on whom we trust,
No wonder if an ignorant man should rust;
And shame it is, if that a priest take keep,
To see an obscene shepherd, and clean sheep.
Well ought a priest to all example give,
By his pure conduct, how his sheep should live.
He let not out his benefice for hire,
Leaving his flock encumbered in the mire,
While he ran up to London, to St. Paul's,
Seeking a well-paid chanterey for souls,
Or with a loving friend his pastime hold;
But dwelt at home, and tended well his fold,
So that to foil the wolf he was right wary.

He was a shepherd, and no mercenary ;
And though he holy was, and virtuous,

He was to sinful men full piteous.

His words were strong, but not with anger fraught;

A lore benignant he discreetly taught.

To draw mankind to heaven by gentleness

And good example was his business,

But if that any one was obstinate,

Whether he were of high or low estate,

Him would he sharply check, with altered mien:
A better parson there was nowhere seen.
He paid no court to pomps and reverence,
Nor spiced his conscience at his soul's expense;
But Jesu's lore, which owns no pride or pelf,
He taught but first he followed it himself."

Goldsmith, in his "Deserted Village," must have had in mind this parson when he described the village preacher. They have some beautiful traits in common.

In the Friar's Tale, Chaucer thus shrewdly makes Satan acknowledge the beneficence of evil:

"A Devil must do God's work, 'twixt you and me;

For without him, albeit to our loathing,

Strong as we go, we devils can do nothing,
Though to our prayers sometimes he giveth leave
Only the body, not the soul, to grieve.

Witness good Job, whom nothing could make wroth.
And sometimes have we power to harass both;
And then again, soul only is possest,

And body free; and all is for the best.
Full many a sinner would have no salvation

Gat he not it by standing our temptation,
Though God he knows, 't was far from our intent
To save the man; his howl was what we meant."

"In these tales," says Warton, "Chaucer's knowledge of the world availed him in a peculiar degree, and enabled him to give such an accurate picture of ancient manners as no contemporary nation has transmitted to posterity. It is here we view the pursuits and employments, the customs and diversions, of our ancestors, copied from the life, and represented with equal truth and spirit. The figures are all British, and bear no suspicious signatures of classical, Italian, or French imitation."

"What an intimate scene of English life in the fourteenth century," says Campbell, "do we enjoy in these tales, beyond what history displays by glimpses, through the stormy atmosphere of her scenes, or the antiquary can discover by the cold light of his researches!" Of this national work, which embodies Chaucer's native genius, unassisted and unalloyed, his contemporaries and their suc

cessors were justly proud. Many copies existed in manuscript; and when the art of printing first came to England, one of the first duties of Caxton's press was to issue an impression of these tales, which first gave literary permanence and consistency to the language and poetry of England.

The versions of Chaucer given by Pope and Dryden are elaborate and highly finished productions; but Chaucer being the most simple and natural of poets, as they were the most sounding and artificial, they are, properly speaking, paraphrases bearing but the faintest resemblance to the great poet. Other and inferior poets have grossly mutilated his finest passages of pathos and humor. The most rational attempt to render Chaucer intelligible is the later work of Horne, to which allusion has already been made; here we have the poet's thought bereft of the obsolete dialect which naturally repels many lovers of good poetry.

Chaucer was a student, a soldier, and a courtier; often employed in public affairs of delicacy and importance; and as his fortunes rose and fell with those of his king, he saw many bitter reverses. He accompanied the army of Edward III. when it invaded France, and was made prisoner in the year 1359 at the siege of Retters.

At the age of forty-one he married after a long and faithful attachment, which appears to have been as faithfully returned-Philippa de Rouet, one of the queen's maids of honor, whose duty to her royal mistress prevented her marriage till by the queen's death she was released from a prior obligation, and left free to follow her own sweet will. The union- as we might infer most happy one.

was a

Chaucer is supposed to have resided, when at home, in a house granted by the king, near the royal manor at Woodstock, surrounded with every mark of luxury and

distinction. The venerable oaks yet shade the spot where it is said his morning walk may still be traced.

"O rock upon their towery tops

All throats that gurgle sweet!
All starry culmination drop

Balm dews to bathe their feet!"

In the reign of Richard II., on the 25th of October, 1400, the poet died in London, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, the first of that illustrious file of poets whose ashes consecrate and enrich the sacred edifice. The character of Chaucer, which may be seen in his works, is thus faithfully portrayed: "He was the counterpart of Shakespeare in cheerfulness and benignity of disposition; no enemy to mirth and joviality, yet delighting in his books, and studious in the midst of an active life. He was an enemy to superstition and priestly abuse. He retained through life his strong love of the country, and its inspiring and invigorating influences. The month of May was always a carnival in his heart and fancy. 'Hard is his heart,' he sings, that loveth nought in May.'"

เ

Critics place Chaucer in the first class of poetry, — the natural. He has masterly execution, but not much invention.

Like Shakespeare, he is remarkable for the variety of the qualities he possesses, excelling equally in the comic and the pathetic.

He has great wit, great humor, strong manly sense, great power of description, perfect knowledge of character, occasional sublimity, and the deepest pathos.

He was the first great English poet, and while the language is spoken, he will be honored as the "father of our literature."

CHAPTER IV.

SOME PREDECESSORS OF SPENSER.

T has been asserted that if Chaucer had not existed,

sufficient to rescue the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II. from the imputation of barbarism.

Gower is supposed to have been born about the year 1325, and must consequently have been a few years older than Chaucer. His capital production is a poetical work in three parts, which were respectively entitled, "Speculum Meditantis," or, "The Mirror of Meditation," written in French rhymes, in ten books, and never printed; the "Vox Clamantis," or, "Voice of one Crying in the Wilderness," containing seven books of Latin elegiacs, which was also never printed; and the "Confessio Amantis," or, "The Lover's Confession," an English poem in eight books, first printed by Caxton in the year 1483.

This poem was written at the command of Richard II., who, meeting Gower rowing on the Thames near London, invited him into the royal barge, and "after much conversation, requested him to book some new thing."

It is on this work that Gower's character and reputation as a poet are almost entirely founded.

The "Confessio Amantis" is a grave discussion on the morals and metaphysics of love, exemplified by a variety of apposite stories extracted from classics and chronicles.

In this degenerate nineteenth century we can hardly imagine an elegant scholar, of Gower's depth and breadth,