John Wesley Hales

“ Chaucer was not only singularly original but singularly impressible and receptive. The literary influences of the age were reflected in its rising genius. The influence of the French poetry is visible in Chaucer's first period, and that of Dante and other great Italians—also Florentines—in his second. In the last period the qualities that make him one of the great masters of our literature exhibit. themselves no longer in promise but in fulfilment. ”

“ He sees vividly the objects and the sights he describes, and makes his readers see them vividly. He is as exact and realistic as Dante, however inferior in the greatness of his conceptions or in nobleness of poetic form. In this last respect Langland is connected with the past rather than with what was the metrical fashion of his own day ”

“ It is strange indeed that the widower should be carefully described as of twenty-four years of age, whereas John of Gaunt was twenty-nine at the time. Artistically considered, the work, though not without beauty, is juvenile and crude. It is conventional in form, awkward in arrangement, inadequate in expression. There is scarcely anything specially Chaucerian in it. And indeed the great interest of the poem is that it brings Chaucer before us just at this early stage. ”

“ In October another grant of wine was made him, this time not a ‘pitcher,’ but a time, to be received in the port of London by the king's chief butler or his deputy. The king's butler at that time was Thomas Chaucer.
He was not more satisfactorily placed till the accession of Henry IV the son of his old patron the Duke of Lancaster (3 Oct. 1399) . Four days after Henry came to the throne he granted Chaucer forty marks (23l. 13s. 4d) . yearly, in addition to the annuity Richard II had given him, so nearly doubling his previous income. ”

“ It may be a mere coincidence that in 1391 Chaucer's son Lewis seems to have been just ten years of age. Whatever this 'release' may mean, it is certain that it brought no discredit on Chaucer in his day. It was after this that the 'moral Gower' made mention of him, and in May 1382 he was appointed comptroller of the petty customs in the port of London during pleasure, with the usual wages and permission to execute his duties by a competent deputy. In November 1385 he was also allowed to nominate a permanent deputy to discharge his other comptrollership. ”

“ PERCY, THOMAS (1729–1811) , editor of the ‘Reliques of Ancient English Poetry’ and bishop of Dromore, was born in Cartway Street, Bridgnorth, Shropshire, on 13 April 1729. His father was a grocer and the son of a grocer, as appears from the ‘Bridgnorth Common Council Books;’ but, in later life at least, the bishop was anxious to deduce his descent from the Percys of Northumberland, with the living representative of whom he was brought into official and social connection. ”

“ These proved connections obviously countenance a belief in what indeed no one used to doubt—viz. that the poet married a Roet, and that Thomas was the first fruit of the union. This relationship is further confirmed by the recently ascertained fact that Thomas Chaucer succeeded Geoffrey Chaucer in the post of forester of North Petherton Park, Somersetshire, an office which the poet held in his latter days (Collinson, Somersetshire, iii. 62 ; Mr. W. D. Selby's letter in Athenæum, 20 Nov. 1886) . And there is no countervailing evidence of any importance; what there is is merely negative. ”

“ The poet's healthy spirit soon rebelled against a long succession of tragedies. He was endowed in a rare degree with the gift of humour. It became clear that this siibject would not serve his purpose. Part of the 'Legende of Good Women' is of great excellence and value. The prologue is to be classed with Chaucer's best writings. And in the legends there are passages of admirable vigour and beauty, such as could come only from the hand of a master. The poem is a noble fragment, but it would not fully have expressed the mature genius of its author. ”

“ His work marks the revival of the English mind and spirit. Stories told up to Layamon's time only in Latin and French now appear in the vernacular speech and the vernacular form. And among them are some of the most famous stories of English literature-stories of Locrine, of King Lear, of King Arthur. Noticeably also it marks the perfect fusion of the Celtic and the Teutonic elements of our race. Welshmen like Geoffrey of Monmouth and Walter Map might well be expected to make much of the of heroes of Britain and the British, of the island and in inhabitants before the Angles came over the seas ”

“ These suggestions, however, ignore Bale's statement that the poet was born at Cleobury Mortimer, and it seems not to have been pointed out that, close by Cleobury Mortimer, there is a hamlet called Langley. As Bale probably had some grounds for his statement, it may reasonably be believed that the poet was born in south Shropshire, and that the commemoration of him—lately inserted in a window in Cleobury Church—may be fairly defended. Thus by birth both Stacey and his distinguished son probably belong to Shropshire, though at one time Stacy lived at Shipton-under-Wychwood in Oxfordshire. ”

“ And it has generally been held, and we think rightly, that in designing the ‘Canterbury Tales’ Chaucer was influenced by the design of Boccaccio’s ‘Decamerone.’ Again, the ‘Reeves Tale,’ the ‘Frankeleynes Tale,’ the ‘Schipmannes Tale’ are all to be found in the ‘Decamerone.' The ‘Monkes Tale’ is formed upon the plan of the same author’s ‘De casibus virorum illustrium.' Chaucer never mentions Bocoaccio, unless it be he whom he denominates ‘Eollius.' But, very strangely, Chaucer specially connects with Lollius that sonnet which is turned into Troilus’s song ”

“ Percy had serious misgivings as to whether he was employing his energies profitably, but expressed the hope that ‘the names of so many men of learning and character’ among his patrons and subscribers would ‘serve as an amulet to guard him from every unfavourable censure for having bestowed any attention on a parcel of Old Ballads.’ He occasionally tampered with his texts and inserted at the end of each volume, in conformity with current sentiment, a ‘few modern attempts in the same kind of writing to atone for the rudeness of the more obsolete poems.’ Dr. ”

“ Arms were not granted to merchants till the reign of Henry VI. But long before that time wealthy merchants of the middle ages bore their trade-marks upon their shields’ (Fuller is wrong, however, for, strangely enough, it appears that the coat of Chaucer's father was quite different: it was ermine on a chief three birds’ heads issuant—see Mr. Walford D. Selby's communication to the Academy for 13 Oct. 1877.) ”

“ The special mark of this period is the influence of the Italian literature. Chaucer’s introduction to the Italian masterpieces gave him a new conception of literary art, an the effect is quickly perceptible. Ie presently abandons the octosyllabic couplet—the metre of the ‘Roman de la Rose’—for a metre of more weight and dignitv. He uses it in only one more work, in ‘The House of Fame,’ and in that poem he shows dissatisfaction with it. ”

“ When asked by Reason what work he can do, whether he could lend a hand in farming operations, or knew any other kind of craft that the community needs, he replies that the only life that attracted him was the priestly. ”

“ It is incredible that they have no personal significance. 'The conclusion clearly is that Chaucer was not happy in his matrimonial relations. It is a fact, that while Chaucer was domiciled, as we shall see, at Aldgate, his wife was in attendance upon the Lady Constance, John of Gaunt's second wife. ”

“ In 1764 he published ‘A New Translation of the Song of Solomon;’ and in 1769 ‘A Key to the New Testament,’ which was thrice reissued. He was appointed chaplain to the Duke of Northumberland, and in 1769 chaplain to the king. At last substantial preferment came. In 1778 he was made dean of Carlisle; but he did not resign the livings of Easton-Maudit and Wilby till four years later, when he became bishop of Dromore in Ireland. Dr. Robert Nares [q. v.] succeeded him at Easton.
Twenty-nine years had Percy been connected with Easton, and twenty-nine years was he connected with Dromore. ”

“ A third group of manuscripts carries us on another fifteen years to 1392 and thereabouts. In 1392, as Professor Skeat points out, the city of London refused the King a loan of 1,000l., and a Lombard who lent it him was beaten by the Londoners nearly to death. Now, in a line, not occurring in the 'A' and the 'B' groups, Conscience, addressing the king, declares that unseemly tolerance [vusittynge suffrance] (of bad men) has almost brought it about, 'hote Maria the help' [unless the Virgin succours him] that no land loves him, and least of all his own (C text, iv. 210) ”

“ It has been doubted whether Thomas Chaucer [q. v.] was the poet’s son. This question is, as it happens, closely connected with the question whether the maiden name of Chaucer’s wife was Roet. On the tomb of Thomas Chaucer at Ewelme occur repeatedly the arms of Roet —viz. gules three Catherine wheels or. Thomas Chaucer also at one time used the arms Per pale argent and gules, a bend counterchanged. This is proved from a drawing of his seal to be found in the Cottonian MS. Julius C. vii. f. 153 (see an accurate copy of it given by Nicholas in Aldine edition, i. 45 n.) ”

“ And also, it seems to me men should not force clerks to common men's work; for by the Levitical law, which Our Lord confirmed, clerks that are crowned [i.e. tonsured] , by a natural understanding [i.e. as nature would dictate] , should neither swink nor sweat, nor swear at inquests, nor fight in the vanward, nor harass their foe; for they are heirs of heaven, are all that are tonsured, and in quire and churches are Christ's own ministers' (C text, vi. init.) ”

“ An interest in China and in the East generally was ‘in the air.’ But more noticeable was the growing interest in the older poetry of Europe. Deeply impressed by Macpherson's studies in Gaelic and Erse poetry, Percy in 1763 published ‘Five Pieces of Runic Poetry, translated from the Islandic Language.’ In this book he gratefully acknowledges the assistance of his neighbour Lye. ”

“ There are a hundred in the ‘Decamerone' but they are comparatively slight and brief; many of Chaucer's are long and elaborate. Several of his earlier writings were adapted (not always thoroughly) to form a part of it, viz. ‘Palamon and Arcite,' the ‘Tale of Griselda,’ the ‘Tale of Constance,' the ‘Tale of Saint Cecilia.' Perhaps the earliest allusion to the ‘Canterbury Tales’ is made by Gower in the prologue to the second (the 1393) edition of the ‘Confessio Amantis’—
But for my wittes ben so smale
To tellen every man his tale, &c. ”

“ Thus, e.g., the scarce word 'fisketh' = wanders (C, x. 153) is recorded in Miss Jackson's 'Shropshire Wordbook;' and it will be found that the poems of John Audlay of Haughmond Monastery, Shropshire, which do not seem to have been studied in relation with 'Piers Plowman,' afford not only many illustrations of Langland's ideas, but many also of his dialect.
In the second edition of his chief poem, Imaginative, addressing the poet, says he has followed him 'this five and forty winters.' Now the B text was written about 1377. We may thus infer that the poet was born about 1332. ”

“ He was recognised as the people's spokesman. No less than forty-five manuscripts of his work are known to be now extant; in the sixteenth century there were certainly two more; additional ones may yet be discovered. Signs of its circulation and acceptance are abundant. Not the least interesting occurs in connection with the great rising of the peasantry in 1381, in a letter addressed by John Ball (d. 1381) [q. v.] ”

“ The date of Layamon is approximately settled by the fact that his poem is based on Wace's ‘Roman da Brut.' Describing the works he collected for information on English history he says that the third book he took and laid before him was made by 'a French clerk, hight Wace, who well could write; and he gave it to the noble Eleanor, that was the high King Henry’s Queen.' Now, Wace himself tells us he composed this work in ll55. ”

“ In April 1357 ‘an entire suit of clothes, consisting of a paltock or short cloak, a pair of red and blac breeches, with shoes,' is provided for Geoffrey Chaucer. ‘On the 20th of Mayan article of dress. of which the name is lost by a defect in the leaf, is purchased’ for him. ‘In December of the same year (1357) a man receives money for accompanying Philippa Pan’ from a place named Pullesdon to Hatfield (in Yorkshire) ”

“ The writ, dated Eltham, 6 Jan. 1391, discharging him for repayment, speaks of the whole robbery as perpetrated at 'le fowle ok.' It adds that his horse was also taken from him 'et autres moebles' (see Mr. Walford D. Selby's Robberies of Chaucer, Chaucer Soc. 2nd ser. No. 12) .
He had now for some two years and a half to subsist as well as he could on John of Gaunt's pension of 10l., his salary as forester, and whatever wages, if any, he received as the king's esquire. It is not till 1394 that he obtained from King Richard a grant of 20l. for life. ”

“ It is the picture of a heavy-laden person who tries to forget his cares in excessive application to ‘business’ and studies, not forgetting the pleasures of the table. He was certainly married when he wrote this. ”

“ The first recorded notice is in notes found in, two manuscripts of 'Piers Plowman.' The Ashburnham MS. says that 'Robert or William Langland made pers ploughman.' The manuscript now at Dublin (D. 4. l) has a note in Latin, said to be in a handwriting of the fifteenth century, to the effect that the poet Langland's father was of gentle birth, was called 'Stacy de Rokayle,' dwelt in Shipton-under-Wychwood, and was a tenant of Lord 'le Spenser in comitatu Oxon.' About the middle of the sixteenth century Bale, in his 'Scriptores Illustres Majoris Britanniæ,' wrote that 'Robertus [?] ”