THE LIFE OF CHAUGER. In the beginning of the eleventh century, our vernacular poetry received from the Normans, the rudiments of that cultivation which it has preserved to the present times. In the two fucceeding centuries, the principal efforts of out yet untutored verfifiers, were rhyming chronicles and metrical romances, the style of which was rough, and the harmony of the numbers very defective. In the reign of Edward I., the character of our poetical compofition was confiderably changed, by the introduction and increase of the tales of chivalry, and the popular fables of the troubadours of Provence. Fictitious adventures were then fubftituted by the minstrels in the place of historical and tradi tionary facts, and a taste for ornamental and exotic expreffion gradually prevailed over the rude fimplicity of the native English phraseology. These fabulous narratives, afterwards enlarged by kindred fancies, derived from the crufades, and enriched by the marvellous machinery of the Italian poets, formed the tafte, and awakened the imagination of GEOFFREY CHAUCER, the illuftrious ornament of the reign of Edward III. and of his fucceffor Richard II., the father of the English heroic verfe, and the first English verfifier whe wrote poetically. Of the great poet, with whofe compofitions this collection of claffical English poetry commences, the curiosity which his reputation müst excite, will require more ample information than can now be given. His contemporaries, who reverenced his genius, recorded few particulars of his life; and all who have fince written of him, relate nothing beyond what casual mention, uncertain tradition, and difcordant conjecture, have supplied. This meagre narration, therefore, fcarcely merits the title that is given to it; but the materials for a fuller account are not to be found, without supplying the deficiency of facts by the comments and inventions of his biographers, which have nothing to recommend them to credit but the single eircumstance of being often repeated. The birth of Chaucer, in 1328, has been fettled, from the infcription on his tomb-stone, signifying that he died in 1400, in the 72d year of his age. Of the place of his nativity there is no memorial, any more than of his parents. Bale says he was a Berkshireman; Pits would entitle Woodstock in Oxfordshire to his birth; and Camden affirms that London was his birth-place: "Edmund Spenfer," fays he, " a Londoner, was so smiled on by the Mufes at his birth, that he excelled all the English poets that went before him, if we except only his fellow citizen Chaucer." But Chaucer himfelf feems to have determined the point. In his Teftament of Love, he calls himself a Londénois or Londoner, and speaks of the city of London as the place of his engendrure. His defcent has been variously affigned. Leland fays that he was of a noble stock; Pits, that he was the fon of a knight; Speght, that his father was a vintner; and Hearne, that he was a merchant. This difference of opinion fhews, that nothing can be faid with any tolerable affurance of his family; but the patronymic name feems to indicate, that it came originally from Normandy; and there is somewhat more probability of his being the fon of a gentleman rather than of a tradesmany His biographers are as much in the dark about the place of his education. They tell us that he received the rudiments of his education in Solere's Hall, Cambridge, where he wrote his Court of Love; and afterwards completed his studies in Merton College, Oxford, In his Court of Love, he speaks of himself under the name and character of "Philogenetof Cambridge, Clerk." This is by no means a decisive proof that he was really educated at Cambridge; but it may be admitted as a strong argument, that he was not educated at Oxford, as Leland has fuppofed, without the fhadow of proof. The biographers, however, instead of weighing one of these accounts against the other, have adopted both, and tell us very gravely that he was first at Cambridge, and afterwards removed from thence to complete his education at Oxford. After he left the university, he is supposed to have added to his accomplishments by travelling into France and the Low Countries; but when he went abroad, or at what time he returned, are circumstances not determined. His biographers agree, that on his return, he entered himself of the Inner Temple, and prosecuted for some time the study of the law. Speght has given us a record in the Inner Temple (which he fays a Mr. Buckley had feen), where "Geoffrey Chaucer was fined two fhillings, for beating a Franciscan friar in Fleet-ftreet." It were to be wished that he had given the date. Leland fays, “ Collegia Leguleiorum frequentavit, after his travels in France, and perhaps before." These travels in France reft entirely on the authority of Leland, whofe account is full of inconfiftencies. He appears to have been early converfant with the court, and particularly attached to the service of the king's fon, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, by whose favour he obtained in marriage Philippa, daughter of Sir Payne, or Pagan Rouet, a native of Hainault, and fifter of the famous Catherine Swynford, the duke's mistress, and afterwards his wife. As the credit of the Duke of Lancaster increased with his father, Chaucer's also rose in a liké proportion; and the liveliness of his parts, and the native gaiety of his disposition, rendered him a very popular and acceptable character in the English court, at that time the moft gay and fplendid in Europe. That he had distinguished himself before this time by his poetical performances, is almost certain ; and there is a tradition supported by some passages in his Dream, and Cukoo and Nightingale, that when he attended the court at Woodstock, he resided at a square stone houfe near the park stile, which ftill retains his name. The first authentic memorial of Chaucer, is the patent in Rymer, 41. Edward III. by which the king grants to him an annuity of 20 marks, by the title of Valettas nofter. He was then in the 39th year of his age. How long he had served the king in that or any other ftation, and what particular merits were rewarded by this royal bounty, are points equally unknown. There is, however, no ground for fuppofing that this mark of his Majesty's favour was a reward of Chaucer's poetical merits. If it is confidered that a few years after (48. Edward III.), the king appointed him Comptroller of the Wool, &c. in the port of London, with the following injunction in the patent : "So that the faid Geoffrey write with his own hand his rolls, touching the faid office, and continually refide there, and do and execute all things pertaining to the faid office in his own proper person, and not by his fubftitute;"-it should seem that Edward, though adorned with many royal and heroic virtues, had not the gift of difcerning and patronizing a great poet : a gift which, like that of genuine poetry, is only beflowed on the chofen few, by the peculiar favour of Heaven; neque enim, nifi carus ab ortu Diis fuperis, poterit magno fuiffe poetæ. MILT. MANSUS. From this time Chaucer is frequently mentioned in various public inftruments. In the 46. Edward III., [Rymer] the king appoints him Envoy (with two others) to Genoa, by the title of Scutifer nofter. This embaffy might probably have afforded him an opportunity of vifiting Petrarch at Padua, where he tells us, in the prologue to the Clerkes Tale, he learned from him the ftory of Grifeldis. But it is uncertain whether he ever went upon the embassy; and the biographers of Petrarch, who died the year following (1374), have not recorded the reverential vifit of the English envoy, 1 "Some write," fays Speght, " that he, with Petrarke, was prefent at the marriage of Lionell Duke of Clarence, with Violante, daughter of Galeasius Duke of Millain; yet Paulus Jovius nameth not Chaucer, but Petrarke, he sayeth, was there." It appears from an inftrument in Rymer [42. Edward III.], that the Duke of Clarence paffed from Dover to Calais in his way to Milan, in the spring of 1638, with a retinue of 457 men and 1280 horfes. That Chaucer might have attended the Duke upon this occafion, is not impoffible; but his name does not appear among the "Grandi Signori Baroni Inghilefe," who were "Com. Meffere Lionell in compagnia" [Muratori]. In the 48. Edward iII., he has a grant for life of a pitcher of wine daily [Rymer]. In the 49. Edward III. the king grants to him the wardship of Sir Edmond Staplegate's heir [Rymer], for which he received 1041.; and, in the next year, fome forfeited wool, to the value of 711. 48. 6d. [Urr. Life of Ch.]. In the' last year of Edward III., he was fent to France with Sir Guichard D'Angle and Richard Stan [or Sturry], to treat of a marriage between Richard Prince of Wales, and a daughter of the French king [Freissart]. In the next year, 1. Richard II., his annuity of 20 marks was granted to him in lieu of the pitcher of wine daily. In his Teftament of Love, he alludes to the misfortunes brought upon him by his meddling in the disturbances which happened in London in the 7. Richard II. What the real designs of John Comberton, commonly called John of Northampton, and his party, were, and how a trifling city-riot came to be treated as a rebellion, are points of great obfcurity. There is good ground to believe that Comberton, in his endeavours to reform the city, according to the advice given by Wickliffe, was countenanced by the Duke of Lancaster, which may account for Chaucer's engagement with that party. When Chaucer fied to Holland, to avoid being examined in relation to thefe difturbances (as he says, Teft. of Love) he was probably fuperfeded in his office of Comptroller. It is probable, too, that he was confirmed in it on his return, though the instrument has not been produced. In the II. Richard II., he had the king's license to furrender his two grants of 20 marks, in favour of John Scalby. This furrender was probably occafioned by his distressed circumstances. In the 13. Richard II.,he appears to have been Clerk of the works at Westminster, &c., and in the fol→ lowing year at Windfor. In the 17. Richard II. the king granted him a new annuity of 201. [Rymer.] If he was ever poffeffed of Dunnington Castle in Berkshire (as his biographers fuppofe), he must have purchased it about this time; for it appears to have been in the poffeffion of Sir Richard Adderbury, in the 17. Richard II. [Monaft. Ang. ii. 474]. But there is no proof of any fuch purchase; and the fituation of his affairs makes it highly improbable. The tradition of an oak in Dunnington park, called Chaucer's oak, may be fufficiently accounted for, without fuppofing that it was planted by Chaucer himself, as the castle was undoubtedly in the poffefion of Thomas Chaucer, who is fuppofed to be his fon, for many years. In the 21. Richard II. the king granted him his protection for two years [Rymer]; and in 22, a pipe of wine annually [ibid]. In the next year, the 1. Henry IV., his two grants of the annuity of 201., and of the pipe of wine, were confirmed to him [Rymer]; and at the same time, he had an additional grant of 40 marks, [ibid]. It appears that he received an annuity of 10 marks on account of his wife. He died, according to the infcription on his tombstone, in the 2. Henry IV., on the 25th of October 1400, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. A monument was erected to his memory in 1556, by Mr. Nicholas Brigham of Oxford, upon which he caufed his picture to be painted, from the original of Occleve, in the illuminated manufcript of his treatise De regimise Principis, together with the following infcription, which ftill remains. M.S. Qui fecit Anglorum vates nofter maximus olim. GALFRIDUS CHAUCER Conditur hoc tumulo: Annum fi quæras Domini, fi tempora vitæ, Ærumnarum requies mors. N. Irigham hos fecit Mufarum nomine fumptus, These are the principal facts in Chaucer's life, which are attested by authentic evidences. In his Treatife on the Aftrolabe, he informs us that he had a fon called Lewis, who was ten years of age in 1391. There is no account in what station he lived, or when he died. The relation of Thomas Chaucer to him has not been afcertained. Speght fays, "that fome held opinion, that Thomas Chaucer was not the son of Geoffrey;" and there are certainly many circumstances which render that opinion probable. He married Maude; daughter of Sir John Burgherfhe, refided chiefly at Ewelm in Oxfordshire, paffed through several public stations, and died on the 28th of April 1434.. The poetical compofitions of Chaucer, particularly his Canterbury Tales, obtained him the highest place of diftinction among his contemporaries. The tales, it is probable, were compofed at different periods of his life. He connected them together in that admirable dramatic structure in which they are at prefent, about the year 1383. They were firft printed by our meritorious countryman William Caxton, the first English printer, as Ames supposes, about 1475 or 1476, and again in 1491. Subfequent editions were printed by Wynken de Worde, in 1495, and by Pynson in 1491, and 1526, which was the first that included his miscellaneous pieces. The next edition was printed by Godfrey in 1532, with Mr. William Thynne's dedication to Henry VIII., and a great number of pieces never before published. This edition was many times reprinted, as the standard edition of Chaucer's works, till the appearance of the editions of Stowe and Speght in 1561, 1597, and 1602; and of the edition undertaken by Urry, which was published some years after his death, in 1721, with a preface by Mr. Timothy Thomas. An edition of the Canterbury Tales was published by Thomas Tyrwhitt, Esq., in 4 vols. 8vo, 1775, to which was added, in 1778, a fifth volume, containing an * Essay on the Language and Verfification of Chaucer," " an Introductory Discourse to the Canterbury Tales, and “ a Glossary.” The prefent edition of the Canterbury Tales is printed from Tyrwhitt's incomparable edition; and his learned and valuable Gloffary is copied with little variation, except in the omission of the numerical references. The Plowman's Tale, Tale of Gamelyn, Adventure of Pardoner and Tapester's and the Merchant's fecond Tale, omitted by Tyrwhitt, have been retained, though all evidence, internal and external, is against the fuppofition of their being the production of Chaucer. The genuine miscellaneous pieces of Chaucer are printed from Urry's edition, exclufive of those pieces which are known to be the production of other authors, and the anonymous compofitions, which, from time to time, have been added to Chaucer's, in the several editions, without any evidence whatever. Befides thefe more confiderable works, it appears that he had compofed many Balades, Roundels, Virelays, and that he had made many a Lay and many a Thing. A few pieces of this fort are ftill extant, and inferted here as they ftand in the editions. The works of Chaucer in profe are, a tranflation of Boethius de confolatione Philofophie, which he has mentioned himself in the Legende of Goode Women, A Treatise on the Aftrolabe, addressed to his fon Lewis in 1391, and the Teftament of Love, which is evidently an imitation of Boethius de Confolatione Philofophiæ. The private character of Chaucer appears to have been as refpectable as his literary character was truly illuftrious. In his manners he was mild and gentle; in his difpofition he was open and ingenuous. He was a fine gentlemen, an agreeable companion, and a learned writer. His contemporaries and difciples, Gower, Occleve, and Lydgate, are lavish in his praife. With Wickliffe, the father of the Reformation, he concurred in fentiments of religion, and co-operated in his most valuable defigns; fo natural is the connection between genius and the love of liberty. On the literary character of Chaucer it is the lefs necessary to enlarge, as it has within these few years been fo accurately and amply difplayed by Mr. Warton, the learned hiftorian of the English poetry, whofe death is an irreparable lofs to English literature, and Mr. Tyrwhitt, whofe edition of the Canterbury Tales is the moft curious, erudite, and valuable publication that has yet appeared in this country. Chaucer is ufually characterifed as the Reformer of the English language, and the father of Englifh poetry. He undoubtedly critically cultivated his native tongue, that he might reform its irregularities, and establish an English style; and he was certainly the firft perfon in England to whom the appellation of a poet, in its genuine luâtre, could be applied. He has attempted every spe If, however he appears The Canterbury Tales, cies of poetry, from an epigram to an epic poem, and has fucceeded in all. pre-eminent in any one poetical department, it is in the defcriptive. his greatest production, exhibit a wonderful variety of talents; for they abound with the sublime and the pathetic, with admirable fatire, genuine humour, and an uncommon knowledge of life. They were probably compofed in imitation of the " Decameron" of Boccace, though upon a different and improved plan. The general plan may be learned from the prologue he has prefixed to them. He supposes there, that a company of pilgrims going to Canterbury, affemble at an inn in Southwark, and agree, that for their common amusement on the road, each of them fhall tell at least one tale in going to Canterbury, and another in coming back from thence; and that he who fhall tell the best tales, shall be treated by the reft with a supper, upon their return to the fame inn. It appears also that he defigned to defcribe their journey, and all the remenant of their pilgrimage, including probably their adventures at Canterbury, as well as upon the road; but this extenfive and difficult undertaking has been left imperfect; and more than one half of the tales he intended to give is wanting. The characters of the pilgrims are as various as at that time could be found in the departments of middle life; and the stories are exactly suited to their characters, and clearly evince, that Chaucer, notwithstanding the aids he derived from his acquaintance with Italian literature, was poffeffed of a noble invention, and a fruitful imagination. The Knight's Tale, The Wefe of Bath's Tale, Tale of the Nun's Prieft, Flower and the Left, and The Character of a Good Parfon, have been thought worthy of imitation and revival by Dryden, whose paraphrases, particularly of the Knight's Tale, and of the Flower and the Leaf, are the most animated and harmonious pieces of verfification in the English language. Pope has imitated the Merchant's Tale, The Wife of Batb's Prologue, and The House of Fame, with his ufual elegance of diction and harmony of verfification. Mr. Betterton has translated the Reve's Tale and the Characters of the Pilgrims; and a collection of "The Canterbury Tales Modernized," was published by Mr. Ogle, in vol. 8vo, 1741. The Squier's Tale is confidered by Mr. Warton as Chaucer's capital poem ; and he has admirably explained the origin of the fictions with which it abounds. With like ingenuity and learning he illuftrates the various poems of Chaucer; and with regard to those which had a foreign original, thews how far the productions which gave rise to them have been copied, altered, and improved. The comparison turns out in many respects to the advantage of the English poet. "Chaucer," fays he, "was a man of the world; and from this circumftance we are to account, in a great measure, for the many new embellishments conferred on our poetry. The descriptions of fplendid proceffions and gallant caroufals, with which his works abound, are a proof that he was converfant with the practice and diverfions of polite life. His travels likewise enabled him to cultivate the Italian and Provençal poetry with the greatest success, and induced him to polish the afperity, and enrich the sterility of his native verfification, with fofter cadences, and a more copious and variegated phraseology." Concerning the licentious paffages that are to be met with in Chaucer's poems, the fame ingenious and learned writer observes, that they are in a great measure to be imputed to the age in which they were written. "We are apt," fays he, "to form romantic and exaggerated notions about the moral innocence of our ancestors. Ages of ignorance and fimplicity are thought to be ages of purity. The direct contrary I believe is the cafe. Rude periods have that groffness of manners, which is not lefs friendly to virtue than luxury itself. In the middle ages, not only the most flagrant violations of modefty were frequently practifed and permitted, but the most infamous vices. Men are less ashamed as they are lefs polished. Great refinement multiplies criminal pleasures, but at the fame time prevents the actual commiffion of many enormities, at least it preferves public decency, and suppresses public licentiousness.” In delineating Chaucer's talent for humour, Mr. Warton agrees with Dr. Hurd, who, in his Letters on Chivalry," fuppofes that the Rime of Sir Thopas, was intended to expofe the leading abfurdities of the pld romance. That this was Chaucer's aim appears from many paffages taken |