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JOHN GOWER.

LITTLE is known of Gower's personal history. "The proud tradition in the Marquis of Stafford's family," says Mr. Todd', " has been, and still is, that he was of Stitenham; and who would not consider the dignity of his genealogy augmented, by enrolling among its worthies the moral Gower?"

His effigies in the church of St. Mary Overies is often inaccurately described, as having a garland of ivy and roses on the head. It is, in fact, a chaplet of roses, such, as Thynne says, was anciently worn by knights; a circumstance which is favourable to the suspicion, that has been suggested, of his having been of the rank of knighthood. If Thynne's assertion, respecting the time of the lawyers first entering the Temple, be correct, it will be difficult to reconcile it with the tradition of Gower's having been a student there in his youth.

By Chaucer's manner of addressing Gower, the latter appears to have been the elder. He was attached to Thomas of Woodstock, as Chaucer was to John of Gaunt. The two poets appear to have been at one time cordial friends, but ultimately to

' In Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer by the Rev. H. Todd.

have quarrelled. Gower tells us himself that he was blind in his old age. From his will, it appears that he was living in 1408. His bequests to several churches and hospitals, and his legacy to his wife of 100l., of all his valuable goods, and of the rents arising from his manors of Southwell in the county of Nottingham, and of Multon in the county of Suffolk, undeniably prove that he was rich.

One of his three great works, the Speculum Meditantis, a poem in French, is erroneously described by Mr. Godwin and others as treating of conjugal fidelity. In an account of its contents, in a MS. in Trinity College Cambridge, we are told that its principal subject is the repentance of a sinner The Vox Clamantis, in Latin, relates to the insurrection of the commons, in the reign of Richard II. The Confessio Amantis, in English, is a dialogue between a lover and his confessor, who is a priest of Venus, and who explains, by apposite stories and philosophical illustrations, all the evil affections of the heart, which impede, or counteract the progress and success of the tender passion.

His writings exhibit all the crude erudition and science of his age; a knowledge sufficient to have been the fuel of genius, if Gower had possessed its fire.

THE TALE

OF

THE COFFERS OR CASKETS, &c.

IN THE FIFTH BOOK OF

THE CONFESSIO AMANTIS.

In a Cronique thus I rede:
Aboute a king, as must nede,
Ther was of knyghtès and squiers
Gret route, and eke of officers:
Some of long time him hadden served,
And thoughten that they haue deserved
Avancèment, and gon withoute:

And some also ben of the route,
That comen but a while agon,
And they avanced were anon.

These oldè men upon this thing,
So as they durst, ageyne the king
Among hemself1 compleignen ofte:
But there is nothing said so softe,
That it ne comith out at laste:
The king it wiste, and als so faste,

'Themselves.

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As he which was of high prudènce:

He shope therfore an evidence

Of hem1 that pleignen in the cas,
To knowe in whose defalte it was;
And all within his owne entent,
That non ma wistè what it ment.
Anon he let two cofres make
Of one semblance, and of one make,
So lich, that no lifthilke throwe,
That one may fro that other knowe:
They were into his chamber brought,
But no man wot why they be wrought,
And natheles the king hath bede
That they be set in privy stede,
As he that was of wisdom slih ;
Whan he therto his time sih3,
All privěly, that none it wiste,
His ownè hondes that one chiste
Of fin gold, and of fin perie',
The which out of his tresorie

Was take, anon he fild full;

That other cofre of straw and mull5
With stones meynd he fild also:
Thus be they full bothè two.

So that erliche upon a day
He had within, where he lay,
Ther should be tofore his bed
A bord up set and fairè spred :

I Them.

2 Like. 5 Rubbish.

3 Saw. 4 Jewels, or precious stones,

Mi ugled. 7 Early.

And than he let the cofres fette'
Upon the bord, and did hem sette.
He knewe the names well of tho,
The whiche agein him grutched so,
Both of his chambre and of his halle,
Anon and sent for hem alle ;
And seide to hem in this wise.

There shall no man his hap despise :
I wot well ye have longe served,
And God wot what ye have deserved;
But if it is along on me

Of that ye unavanced be,
Or elles if it belong on yow,
The sothe shall be proved now:
To stoppè with your evil word,
Lo! here two cofres on the bord;
Chese which you list of bothè two;
And witeth well that one of tho
Is with tresor so full begon,
That if ye happè therupon

Ye shall be richè men for ever:

Now chese3, and take which you is lever,
But be well ware ere that ye take,
For of that one I undertake
There is no maner good therein,

Wherof ye mighten profit winne.

4

Now goth together of one assent,
And taketh your avisement;

1 Fetched. 2 Those. 3 Choose.

Go.

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