Having learned all that France could teach him, Chaucer turned toward Italy, whither the public service was to take him, and in 1372 made an official visit to Genoa. He undertook a second journey thitherward, and on this occasion visited also Florence and Padua, returning to England in November, 1373. As Petrarch was living at Padua, and Boccaccio in Florence, at this time, it is not unlikely that Chaucer met them both; evidences of such contact, direct or indirect, are given in his "Canterbury Tales," the masterpiece which in the sunset of his life he produced in retirement from the activities of public service at his quiet country home in Woodstock. This masterpiece was begun probably about 1387, for by 1393 most of the "Tales,” as we have them, were written. He died October 25, 1400.

Of Chaucer's earlier works some are either partly, or altogether, translations from the Latin, French, or Italian. He described the course of true love in a glowing allegory— "The Romaunt of the Rose," and in another, and still more beautiful one, "The Flour and the Lefe," pointed out that "They which honour the flour, a thing fading with every blast, are such as looke after beautie and worldly pleasure: But they that honour the life . . . are they which follow vertue and divining qualities without regard of worldly respects."

To provide the reader with a specimen of Chaucerian English, a part of the "Persones (Parson's) Tale," from the Canterbury Tales, written about 1393, is given below. The section is entitled "De Superbia" (Of Pride).

Now ben there tuo maners of pride; that oon23 is heighnes withinne the hert of a man and that other is withoute. Of 23 The one of them.

which sothly these forsayde thinges, and mo24 than I have said, aperteynen to pride that is in the hert of a man; and that other spices25 of pride ben withoute; but natheles, that oon of thise spices of pride is signe of that other, right as the gay levesselle26 at the tavern is signe of wyn that is in the celer. And this is in many thinges; as in speche and contienaunce, and in outrageous array of clothing. For certis, if ther hadde be no synne in clothing, Crist wolde not so soone have notid and spoke of the clothing of thilke riche man in the gospel. And seint Gregorie saith, that precious clothing is coupable for derthe of it, and for his schortnes, and for his straungenes and disgisines, and for the superfluite, or for the inordinat skantnes of it; allas! many man may sen as in oure dayes, the synful costlewe array of clothing, and namely27 in to moche superfluite, or elles in to disordinat skantnes.

As to the firste synne in superfluite of clothing, which that makid is so dere, to harm of the poeple, not oonly the cost of embrowdyng,28 the disguising, endentyng or barryng, ounding, palyng29 or bendyng,30 and semblable wast of cloth in vanite; and ther is also costlewe furring in here gownes, so mochil pounsyng31 of chiseles to make holes, so moche daggyng-32 of scheris, for with the superfluite in lengthe of the forsaide gownes, traylinge in the donge and in the myre, on hors and eek on foote, as wel of man as of womman, that al thilke traylyng is verraily (as in effect) wasted, consumed, thredbare, and rotyn with donge, rather than it is geven to the pore, to gret damage of the forsaide pore folk, and that in sondry wise; this is to sain, the more that cloth is wastid, the more most it coste to the poeple for the scarsenes; and forthermore, if it so be that thay wolde give suche pounsed and daggid clothing to the pore folk, it is not convenient to were to the pore folk, ne suffisaunt to beete33 here necessite, to kepe hem fro the desperance of the firmament.

28 A bower, an arbor, a summer-house or penthouse; also, a bough used as a sign at a tavern, whence the proverb "Good wine needs no bush."

27 Especially.

28 Embroidering.

29 Imitating waves.
30 Imitating pales.

31 Punching.
32 Slitting.

33 Supply.

The few lines that follow are quoted from "The Romaunt of the Rose," and express the moral and chivalrous sentiments of this great English poet.

To villaine speech in no degree

Let never thy lippe unbounden bee:
For I nought hold him, in good faith,
Curteis, that foule wordes saith;
And all women serve and preise,
And to thy power hir honour reise,
And if that any mis-sayere

Despise women, that thou maist here,

Blame him, and bid him hold him still.

The foreign element in Chaucer's work is evidence of the influence upon him of the speech of the people he visited. Let any one consult a glossary to his works and he will be amazed at the large number of French and Latin words recorded there-amazed because "by the reign of Edward III. French was so little known in England, even in the families of the great, that about 1350 'John Cornwal, a maystere of gramere, chaunged pe lore in gramere scole and construccion of Freynsch into Englysch.' ''34 After the close of the fourteenth century, the language spoken in England was that of the Midlands; then, the southern dialect fell to the level of a peasant's jargon.

John Gower, whom his friend Chaucer dubbed, perhaps infelicitously, "O moral Gower, ''35 was of Kentish birth. Of his personal history little is known. The date of his birth has been set at about 1325. His death is stated to have taken place in 1408. Gower has been described as

34 Sir James A. H. Murray in "Encyc. Brit.," s.v. "English Language."

35 O moral Gower! this booke I direct

To thee, and to the philosophical Strood,
To vouchesauf there need is to correct

Of your benignities and zeales good.

one of the best of our minor poets. He came of a wealthy family, the owners of several country houses, and "seems to have studied at Merton College, Oxford.''36 The position he holds in English literature is due to his "Confessio Amantis," which is a collection of reflections on matters physical, metaphysical, and moral, woven in with stories derived from "the common repertories of the Middle Ages." His moral reflections have been declared confessedly wise, impressive, and almost sublime. This poem which was written almost in English, secured for him a permanent place among British poets.

The extract from "Confessio Amantis" given below serves a double purpose: to show the quality of Gower's verse, and his unbroken friendship with Chaucer, to whom he paid a graceful compliment by putting into the mouth of Venus the following words:

And greet well Chaucer when ye meet,
As my disciple and my poete;
For in the floures of his youth,
In sondry wise, as he well couth,
Of ditties and of songes glade,
The which he for my sake made,
The land fulfilled is over all;
Whereof to him in special,
Above all other, I am most hold:
Forthy now in his dayes old
Thou shalle him tell this message,
That he upon his latter age,
To set an end of all his werk,
As he which is mine owne clerk,
Do make his Testament of Love,
As thou hast done thy shrift above,
So that my court it may record.

38 Collier loc. cit. p. 61.

Gower wrote four poems in all. The first was "Balades and other Poems," written in French; the second, "Speculum Meditantis," which was written in French and treated of the duties of conjugal life. The third, "Vox Clamantis," written in Latin, recounted the story of the rebellion of the Commons in Richard II.'s time. This work is believed to have been destroyed. To the fourth, "Confessio Amantis," reference has already been made. In 1399 Gower was struck with blindness and suffered from this affliction until his death, which occurred at Southwark, near London.

In the Manuscript Section of the British Museum, London, is a collection known as the Arundel MSS., number fifty-seven of which is written in the Kentish dialect of 1340. Folio eighty-two of this MS. contains the Lord's Prayer as written at that time:

"Pater Noster.-Vader oure thet art ine heuenes y halzed by thi name, cominde thi riche, y worthe thi wil ase in heuene ine erthe, bread oure eche dayes yef ous to day, and uor let ous oure yeldinges ase and we norleteth oure yelderes, and ne ous led nazt in to unondinge, ac vri ous uram queade.

zo by hit."

To James I. of Scotland, born in 1394 and detained many years as a state prisoner in England, we owe the famous "King's Quhair" (quire or book). It is a poem of about two hundred stanzas, each of seven lines, which relates many of the events of the King's life. For nineteen years he lived in England, chiefly at Windsor and Nottingham, and came under the influence of Chaucer's and Gower's verse, but the song he sang in "The King's Quhair" was the inspired song of the lover.

One day while looking out of a window in the Round Tower he saw walking in a garden below the beautiful Joan