CŒUR DE LION IN BATTLE.

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'Upon his creste a dove whyte Sygnyfycane of the Holy Spirite, Upon a cross the dove stode

Of gold unwrought, ryche and gode.'

'King Richarde to his sadele dyd lepe,
Certes, who that wolde take kepe,
To see that fyte it were fayre :
All so harde as they might dyre:
After theys fete sprang out fyre:
Tabours and trumpeters gan blowe :
There men myght se in a throwe
How Kynge Richarde that noble man
Encountered with the Soudan.'

CHAPTER II.

COURT OF EDWARD III. — GEOFFREY CHAUCER; THE RESPECT PAID TO HIM; THE BEAUTY AND GRACE OF HIS PERSON; HIS REPUTATION; HIS YOUTH; HIS ACQUIREMENTS. - THE FATHER OF ENGLISH POETRY. AN ASTRONOMER; A PHILOSOPHER, HIS LINEAGE DOUBTFUL.- STATED TO BE THE SON OF A CHAUCER APPEARS TO

TAVERN-KEEPER; FULLER'S JEST ON THIS POINT.
HAVE BEEN OF GOOD BIRTH; HIS NAME ORIGINATES FROM LE CHAUSIR, IN
CHAUSSIERS. A GENTLEMAN BY NATURE AND BY EDUCATION.-BORN IN THE
CITY OF LONDON, IN A THEN PLEASANT AND WELL OCCUPIED PART. HIS
CLAIMS TO GENTILITY SHOWN. A FAVOURITE AT COURT. OLD WOODSTOCK,
HIS RESIDENCE.-DESCRIBED IN CHAUCER'S' DREAM.'-POEM OF THE 'FLOWRE
AND THE LEAFE.'
FAMOUS FLORAL GAMES FOUNDED BY ISAURE, COUNTESS
OF THOLOUSE. REMARKS OF WARTON ON THE IMMORALITY OF THE DARK
AGES. CHAUCER'S FRIENDSHIP WITH JOHN OF GAUNT AND THE DUCHESS
BLANCH. CHAUCER MARRIES PHILIPPA.-HIS APPOINTMENTS AND SUCCESS.
—WICKLIFFE, THE 'MORNING STAR OF THE REFORMATION'; HIS LABOURS.
CHAUCER ATTACKS THE MONKISH ORDERS.-HIS DEBTS AND DIFFICULTIES.
DECLINE OF HIS LIFE AND FORTUNES. JOHN OF GAUNT'S MARRIAGE.
DUNNINGTON CASTLE, CHAUCER'S RESIDENCE. HIS DEATH.- THE CANTER-
BURY TALES.' THE PLAN OF THE WORK TAKEN FROM THE DECAMERON.'

SOME OF THE CHARACTERS DESCRIBED.

BY CHAUCER.

-

THE POEM LEFT UNFINISHED

GEOFFREY. CHAUCER.

25

CHAPTER II.

IN reviewing the progress of social literature, one image is called up forcibly before the mind. It is that of a very young man, towards whom, in deference and courtesy, all faces turn, as he mingles with the great and gay in the court of Edward the Third. Time has passed on since the halls in which Cœur de Lion touched the harp were thronged with troubadours from Provence: and now a native poet stands in the presence of the lettered and chivalric Edward. Even if the fame of his great acquirements had not procured him respect, the surpassing beauty and grace of this youthful author's person would have commanded success in the world for the young poet laureate, Geoffrey Chaucer. His fair complexion, his full and roseate lips, his perfect contour of face, and height of body, are, however, but vulgar attractions compared with the rare intellect which in its inherent dignity gave dignity and ease to his deportment even when royalty was present. The youth whom we have been accustomed to venerate as 'Old Chaucer,' brings with him to that stately circle a reputation for all that it seems to require a life time to compass.

The winning boy-for he was when first he became famous little more than a boy-is even then reported to have been 'a ready logician, a smooth rhetorician, a pleasant poet, a grave philosopher, an ingenious mathematician, and a holy divine.'