FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
81
nas to call the sheriff of the county, or the civil officer of the town, to be presentwhen the sentence of condemnation was pronounced ; upon which the condemned person was immediately to be deliTered to the secular magistrate, who was to ctnse him to be burnt to death, in some elevated place, in the sight of all the people.
1400, JuM 22.' Died Geoffrey Chaucer, the fiither of English Poetry ; or more emphatically, the " Homing Star." Of the history of this dis- doguished poet, whom his cotemporaries and nmnediate successors denominate " the flower of doqnaice," — "superlatiTe in eloquence," &c. it is astonishing mat we should know almost sothinp. His very descent is involved in im- pene&able obscurity; for while one of his bio- giaplieis asserts that he was of a noble stock, another declares that he was the son of a knight; a third, that bis lather was a vintner, and a btiith, that he was a merchant : there is a fifth opision, which seems best entitled to credit, viz. tnit nothing can be said with any certainty respecting hu origin.
The pkce of bis birth, likewise, is equally a matter of dispute ; for while some maintain, and, apptrentk, on his own authority, that he was born in London, others have brought what, to them, have appeared very conclusive arguments, tint he was a Berkshire man ; while a third putj have strenuously maintained, that the hoMar of his natirity belongs to the county of Oxfcsd. Amidst these discrepances, which en- cumber almost every circumstance connected vitb the poet's life, it is difficult to know what to beliere: we must, therefore, content ourselves «idi the information furnished by his tombstone, and tarious other records ; &x>m the first of which, it appears, that he was born in 1328, and that he died in 1400 ; and fiom the latter, that he was closdy omnQcted with John of Gaunt, to whose cenmd wile he was related by marriage ; that he was, atone time, in high favour at Court, where Ik enjoyed several lucrative offices ; but that he afterwards, it is conjectured on account of his attachment to the doctrines of Wiclif, forfeited his places, and was compelled to fly the king- dom; and that, after his return to his native land, he was taken and committed to prison, fion whence he was not released till he had made liis submission.
Fram all that can be obtained, it appears that bis lather was a wealthy merchant, who gave him a liberal education, an(l that he studied both at Oxfcri and Cambridge. H e next improved him- ^ b^ travelling into foreign countries. Mr. Godwm, in his Life of Chaucer, has observed, after Leland, that " it was during the years that Cbaocer resided at the university of Paris, that be imbibed all the beauties, elegance, charms,
- it,and grace of the French tongue to a degree
tbat is scarcely credible. Nothing indeed, can be moie indubitable than that Chaucer was a con- snmate master of the language, and of all the literary productions which had then appeared in France." On his return he became yeoman to Edward III. who gave him a pension out of the
exchequer, and soon after was appointed shield bearer to that soveriegn. He was sent to Genoa to hire ships for the king's service, and at his re- turn obtained a grant of a pitcher of wine a-day, to be delivered by the butler of England ; and the place of comptroller of the customs of London, for wool, &c. On his release from prison he retired to Woodstock, where he em- ployed himself in correcting his works. Here he published his treatise on the Astrolabe. Henry IV. in the first year of his reign, gave him an annuity of forty marks for his life. He was buried in Westminster abbey. Chaucer married Philipa de Rouet, by which means he became allied to John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, who was his patron while he was himself in power. On the accession to the throne of Henry IV. the son of his great patron, he quitted his peace- able retirement, and travelled to London; and this journey is supposed to have hastened his end, the near approach of which, if we may judge fiom the following Ode, which he is said to have composed in his last agonies, he bore with Roman fortitude. The reader will observe, that the phraseologr of this little piece has been modernized, in orner to obviate tue obscurity of the old language.
THB POETS LAST AOVICS.
Fit born the caowd tod be to vlrtne trae.
Content with what thou hast, the' it be nnaU; To hoard brings hate : nor lofty thoughts porsttc i
He who climbs Ugh endangers many a fall. Envy's a shade that ever waits on fame,
And oft the son that raises it will hide ; Trace not in life a vast expensive scheme,
Bat be thy wishes to thy state allied ; Be mild to others, to thyself severe. So truth shall shield thee or from hurt or fear.
Thlnlc not ol bending all things to thy will.
Nor vainly hope that fortune shall l>elViend ; Inconstant she, but be thou constant still,
Whate'er betide, unto an honest end. Yet needless dangers never madly brave.
Kick not thy naked foot against a nail j Or frvra experience the solution crave.
If wail and pitcher strive, which shall prevail. Be in thy cause, as in thy neighbour's clear, So truth shall shield thee or from hurt or fear.
Whatever happens, hivpy in thy mind.
Be thou serene, nor at thy lot repine ; He 'scapes all ill whose bosom is reslgn'd.
Nor way nor weather will be always line. BMide, thy home's not here, a journey this,
A pilgrim thou, then hie thee on thy way ; Look np to God, intent on heav'nly bliss.
Take what the road affords, and praises pay. Shun brutal lusts, and seek thy soul's high sphere, So truth shall shield thee or from hurt or fear.
Chaucer had for cotcmporary poets, Robert of Gloucester, Robert of Brunne,"and Piers Plow- man, believed to be a ficticious name. Their Sredecessors were Rendale and Thomas of Ercel- owne, known by the appellation of fA« rhymer. Uniting, or supposed to unite, in his person, the powers of poetical composition with those of prophecy, and his memory after a lapse of five centuries, is regarded with veneration by his countrymen, tor this, he is, perhaps, rather in- debted tothc superstitious credulity of the vulgar, than to the just claims which he possesses as the earliest Scotish poet whose name and rhymes, have descended to modern times. Of his history.
VjOOQ IC
